



P3 






ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION 
INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN 



COPYRIGHT, IQII, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 



MS 

CcI.A2925y3 



CONTENTS 



I. Introductory 3 

The human body a perfect machine — How to keep well — 
Outdoor sleeping — Exercise and play — Smoking — ^Walking. 

II. The Boy Scouts of America .... 19 

Headquarters — Purpose — Scout Law — How to form a 
patrol of Scouts — Organization of a troop — Practical ac- 
tivities for Scouts — A Scout camp — Model Programme of 
Sir R. S. S. Baden-Powell Scout camp. 

III. Camps and Camping ..... 50 

How to select the best place to pitch a tent — A brush 
bed — The best kind of a tent — How to make the camp 
fire — What to do when it rains — Fresh air and good food 
— The brush leanto and how to make it. 

IV. Camp Cooking 75 

How to make the camp fire range — Bread bakers — 
Cooking utensils — The grub list — Simple camp recipes. 

V. Woodcraft 93 

The use of an axe and hatchet — Best woods for special 
purposes — What to do when you are lost — Nature's 
compasses. 

VI. Use of Fire-arms 110 

Importance of early training — Why a gun is better than 
a rifle — How to become a good shot. 

VII. Fishing 125 

Proper tackle for all purposes — How to catch bait — 
The fly fisherman — General fishing rules. 

VIII. Nature Study 144 

What is a true naturalist ? — How to start a collection — 
Moth collecting — The herbarium. 

IX. Water Life 158 

The water telescope — How to manage an aquarium — 
Our insect friends and enemies — The observation beehive. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 

X. 



XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 
XV. 

XVI. 

xvn. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 



- Skating — Skiing — Snowshoeing — 



The Care of Pets 

Cats — Boxes for song birds — How to attract the birds 
■ — Tame crows — The pigeon fancier — Ornamental land 
and water fowl — Rabbits, guinea pigs, rats and mice — How 
to build coops — General rules for the care of pets — The dog. 

The Care of Chickens 

The best breed — Good and bad points of incubators — 
What to feed small chicks — A model chicken house. 

Winter Sports 

What to wear - 
Hockey. 

Horsemanship 

How to become a good rider — The care of horses — 
Saddles. 

How to Swim and to Canoe . 

The racing strokes — Paddling and sailing canoes. 

Baseball ........ 

How to organize a team and to select the players — The 
various positions — Curve pitching. 

How to Play Football 

The various positions and how to select men for them — 
Team work and signals — The rules. 

Lawn Tennis 

How to make and mark a court — Clay and sod courts — 
The proper grip of the racket — Golf — The strokes and 
equipment. 

Photography 

The selection of a camera — Snapshots vs. real pictures 
— How to make a photograph from start to finish. 

Outdoor Sports for Girls 

What to wear — Confidence — Horseback riding — Ten- 
nis — Golf — Camping. 

One Himdred Outdoor Games .... 



PAGE 

170 



193 

208 

234 

244 

267 
284 

301 

318 



ILLUSTRATIONS 
A Boy's Camp Frontispiece ^ 

FACING PAGE 

A Child's May-day Party 6 ^ 

Fishing is the One Sport of Our Childhood that Holds 

Our Interest Through Life 126 /^ 

The Moth Collector and His Outfit . . . . . . 154 ^ 

The Exciting Sport of Ski-running . * 222 ^ 

Swimming is One of the Best Outdoor Sports . . . 234 

In Canoeing Against the Current in Swift Streams a Pole 

is Used in Place of the Paddle 242 ''' 

Photographs of Tennis Strokes Taken in Actual Play . 294 ' 

How an Expert Plays Golf 298 - 



OUTDOOR SPORTS AND GAMES 



INTRODUCTORY 

The human body a perfect machine — How to keep well — Out- 
door sleeping — Exercise and play — Smoking — Walking 

SUPPOSE you should wake up Christmas 
, morning and find yourself to be the owner 
of a bicycle. It is a brand-new wheel and 
everything is in perfect working order. The bearings 
are well oiled, the nickel is bright and shiny and it 
is all tuned up and ready for use. If you are a 
careful, sensible boy you can have fun with it for 
a long time until finally, like the "One Hoss Shay" 
in the poem, it wears out and goes to pieces all at 
once. On the other hand, if you are careless or 
indifferent or lazy you may allow the machine to 
get out of order or to become rusty from disuse, or 
perhaps when a nut works loose you neglect it and 
have a breakdown on the road, or you may forget 
to oil the bearings and in a short time they begin to 
squeak and wear. If you are another kind of a boy, 
you may be careful enough about oiling and cleaning 
the wheel, but you may also be reckless and head- 



4 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

strong and will jump over curbstones and gutters 
or ride it over rough roads at a dangerous rate of 
speed, and in this way shorten its life by abuse just 
as the careless boy may by neglect. 

It is just so with the human body which, after all, 
is a machine too, and, more than that, it is the most 
wonderful and perfect machine in the world. With 
care it should last many years. With abuse or 
neglect it may very soon wear out. The boy who 
neglects his health is like the boy who allows the 
bearings on his wheel to become dry or the metal 
parts rusty. The chief diflFerence is that when the 
bicycle wears out or breaks down we may replace 
the parts or even buy another machine, but when 
our health is injured, money will not restore it. 

In order to keep well we must observe certain 
rules of health. By exercise we keep the working 
parts in good order. If we are lazy or indolent we 
are like the bicycle that is allowed to go to pieces 
from lack of use. If we are reckless and foolhardy 
we may injure some part of the delicate machinery 
from excessive exercise or strain. 

Play is the most natural thing in the world but 
we must use judgment in our play. A boy or girl 
who is not allowed to play or who is restrained by 
too anxious parents is unhappy indeed. Nearly 



INTRODUCTORY 5 

all animals play. We know, for instance, that 
puppies, kittens, and lambs are playful. It is a 
perfectly natural instinct. By proper play we build 
up our bodies and train our minds. The healthy 
man never gets too old to play. He may not care 
to play marbles or roll hoops, but he will find his 
pleasure in some game or sport like tennis, golf, 
horseback riding, camping, fishing or hunting. 

In this book we shall talk about some forms of 
play and recreation that are not strictly confined 
to children, but which we may still enjoy even after 
we have become grown men and women. We shall 
also talk about some children's games that some of 
the older readers may have outgrown. While 
we play we keep our minds occupied by the sport, 
and at the same time we exercise our muscles and 
feed our lungs and our bodies with oxygen. 

It is unfortunate that in school or college athletics 
those who need exercise the most are often those who 
are physically unfitted to play on the school teams. 
In other words, we select our runners and jumpers 
and football players from among the stronger boys, 
while the weaker ones really need the benefit of the 
sport. Every boy should take part in school games 
when possible even if he is not as swift or as strong as 
some other boys. 



6 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

It is very unmanly of one boy to make fun of 
another because he is weak or clumsy or unskilful. 
After all, the thing that counts and the thing that 
is most creditable is to make the most of our oppor- 
tunities whatever they may be. If an undersized 
or timid boy becomes stronger or more brave because 
he joins in games and sports, he deserves a hundred 
times more credit than the big, strong boy whom 
nature has given a sturdy frame and good lungs and 
who makes a place on the school team without any 
real effort. 

If we live a natural, open-air life we shall have but 
little need of doctors or medicine. Many of our 
grandmothers' notions on how to keep well have 
changed in recent years. Old-fashioned remedies 
made from roots and herbs have been almost com- 
pletely replaced by better habits of life and common- 
sense ideas. We used to believe that night air was 
largely responsible for fevers and colds. Doctors 
now say that one of the surest ways to keep well is 
to live and sleep in the open air. In many modern 
houses the whole family is provided with outside 
sleeping porches with absolutely no protection from 
the outside air but the roof. I have followed the 
practice of sleeping in the open air for some time, 
and in midwinter without discomfort have had the 







•M 
O 



INTRODUCTORY 7 

temperature of my sleeping porch fall to six degrees 
below zero. Of course it is foolish for any one to 
sleep exposed to rain or snow or to think that there 
is any benefit to be derived from being cold or 
uncomfortable. The whole idea of open-air sleeping 
is to breathe pure, fresh air in place of the atmosphere 
of a house which, under the best conditions, is full 
of dust and germs. If we become outdoor sleepers, 
coughs and colds will be almost unknown. General 
Sherman once wrote a letter in which he said that he 
did not have a case of cold in his entire army and he 
attributed it to the fact that his soldiers slept and 
lived in the open air. 

One can almost tell a man who sleeps in the open 
by looking at him. His eye is clear and his cheek 
ruddy. There is no surer way to become well and 
strong than to become accustomed to this practice. 
Then you can laugh at the doctor and throw the 
medicine bottles away. In stating this I know that 
many parents will not agree with me, and will feel 
that to advise a boy to sleep in the open when the 
weather is stormy or extremely cold is almost like 
inviting him to his death. It is a fact just the same 
that every one would be healthier and happier if 
they followed this practice. In a few years I expect 
to see outdoor sleeping the rule rather than the 



8 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

exception. Progressive doctors are already agreed 
on this method of sleeping for sick people. In some 
hospitals even delicate babies are given open-air 
treatment in midwinter as a cure for pneumonia. 
My own experience is that in the two years that I have 
been an outdoor sleeper, with the snow drifts some- 
times covering the foot of the bed, with the wintry 
winds howling about my head in a northeaster, I 
have been absolutely free from any trace of 
coughs or colds. Thousands of others will give 
the same testimony. According to old-fashioned 
ideas such things would give me my ''death of 
cold." It rarely happens that one begins the 
practice of sleeping out without becoming a firm 
believer in it. 

One of the children of a friend in Connecticut who 
had just built a beautiful home was taken ill, and the 
doctor recommended that the child's bed be moved 
out on the porch. This was in December. The 
father also had his own bed moved out to keep the 
baby company. My friend told me that after the 
first night he felt like a changed man. He awoke 
after a refreshing sleep and felt better than he had 
in years. The whole family soon followed and 
all the beautiful bedrooms in the house were 
deserted. The baby got well and stayed well and 



INTRODUCTORY 9 

the doctor's visits are few and far between in that 
household. 

By all means sleep in the open if you can. Of 
course one must have ample protection from the 
weather, such as a porch or piazza with a screen 
or shelter to the north and west. A warm room in 
which to dress and undress is also absolutely neces- 
sary. If your rest is disturbed by cold, as it will 
probably be until you become accustomed to it and 
learn the tricks of the outdoor sleeper, you simply 
need more covers. In winter, the bed should be 
made up with light summer blankets in place of 
sheets, which would become very cold. Use, as a 
night cap, an old sweater or skating cap. A good 
costume consists of a flannel shirt, woollen drawers, 
and heavy, lumberman's stockings. With such an 
outfit and plenty of covers, one can sleep out on the 
coldest night and never awaken until the winter's 
sun comes peeping over the hill to tell him that it is 
time to get up. 

Besides fresh air, another important thing in 
keeping well is to eat slowly and to chew your food 
thoroughly. Boys and girls often develop a habit 
of rapid eating because they are anxious to get back 
to play or to school. Slow eating is largely a matter 
of habit as well, and while it may seem hard at 



10 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

first it will soon become second nature to us. Re- 
member to chew your food thoroughly. The stom- 
ach has no teeth. We have all heard of Mr. Horace 
Fletcher, that wonderful old man who made himself 
young again by chewing his food. 

There is no fun in life unless we are well, and a 
sensible boy should realize that his parents' interest 
in him is for his own benefit. It may seem hard 
sometimes to be obliged to do without things that 
we want, but as a rule the judgment of the older 
people is better than our own. A growing boy will 
often eat too much candy or too many sweet things 
and then suffer from his lack of judgment. To fill 
our stomachs with indigestible food is just as foolish 
as it would be to put sand in the bearings of our 
wheel, or to interfere with the delicate adjustment of 
our watch until it refuses to keep time. 

While we play, our muscles are developed, our 
lungs filled with fresh air and the whole body is made 
stronger and more vigorous. Some boys play too 
hard. Over-exertion will sometimes cause a strain 
on the delicate machinery of the body that will 
be very serious in after life. The heart is especially 
subject to the dangers of overstrain in growing boys. 
We are not all equally strong, and it is no discredit to 
a boy that he cannot run as far or lift as much as some 



INTRODUCTORY 11 

of his playmates or companions. You all remember 
the fable of the frog who tried to make himself as 
big as the ox and finally burst. The idea of exercise 
is not to try to excel every one in what you do, but 
to do your best without over-exertion. If a boy has 
a rugged frame and well developed muscles, it is 
perfectly natural that he should be superior in most 
sports to a boy that is delicate or undersized. 

To be in good physical condition and to laugh at 
the doctor we must keep out of doors as much as 
possible. Gymnasium work of course will help us 
to build up our strength and develop our muscles, 
but skill in various acrobatics and gymnastic tricks 
does not give the clear eye and ruddy cheek of the 
person whose life is in the open air. Outdoor sports, 
like tennis, baseball, and horseback riding are far 
superior to chestweights or Indian clubs as a means 
of obtaining normal permanent development. 

Parents who criticize school or college athletics often 
forget that the observance of the strict rules of train- 
ing required from every member of a team is the very 
best way to keep a boy healthy in mind and body. 

Tobacco and alcohol are absolutely prohibited, 
the kind of food eaten and the hours for retiring are 
compulsory, and a boy is taught not only to train 
his muscles but to discipline his mind. Before a 



n OUTDOOR SPORTS 

candidate is allowed to take active part in the sport 
for which he is training he must be "in condition," 
as it is called. 

There are a great many rules of health that will 
help any one to keep well, but the best rule of all 
is to live a common-sense life and not to think too 
much about ourselves. Systematic exercises taken 
daily with setting up motions are very good unless 
we allow them to become irksome. All indoor 
exercise should be practised with as much fresh air 
in the room as possible. It is an excellent plan to 
face an open window if we practise morning and even- 
ing gymnastics. 

There are many exercises that can be performed 
with no apparatus whatever. In all exercises we 
should practise deep regular breathing until it be- 
comes a habit with us. Most people acquire a 
faulty habit of breathing and only use a small part 
of their total lung capacity. Learn to take deep 
breaths while in the fresh air. After a while it will 
become a habit. 

Just how much muscle a boy should have will 
depend upon his physical make-up. The gymnasium 
director in one of our largest colleges, who has spent 
his whole life in exercise, is a small, slender man whose 
muscles are not at all prominent and yet they are 



mXRODUCTORY 13 

like steel wires. He has made a life-long study of 
himself and has developed every muscle in his body. 
From his appearance he would not be considered a 
strong man and yet some of the younger athletes 
weighing fifty pounds more than he, have, in wrestling 
and feats of strength, found that the man with the 
largest muscles is not always the best man. 

There is one question that every growing boy will 
have to look squarely in the face and to decide for 
himself. It is the question of smoking. There is 
absolutely no question but that smoking is injurious 
for any one, and in the case of boys who are not yet 
fully grown positively dangerous. Ask any ciga- 
rette smoker you know and he will tell you not to 
smoke. If you ask him why he does not take his 
own advice he will possibly explain how the habit 
has fastened its grip on him, just as the slimy ten- 
tacles of some devil fish will wind themselves about 
a victim struggling in the water, until he is no 
longer able to escape. A boy may begin to smoke 
in a spirit of fun or possibly because he thinks it 
is manly, but more often it is because the '* other 
fellers" are trying it too. 

My teacher once gave our school an object lesson 
in habits which is worth repeating. He called one 
of the boys to the platform and wound a tiny piece 



14 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

of thread around the boy's wrists. He then told 
him to break it, which the boy did very easily. 
The teacher continued to wind more thread until 
he had so many strands that the boy could break 
them only with a great effort and finally he could 
not break them at all. His hands were tied. Just 
so it is with a habit. The first, second, or tenth time 
may be easy to break, but we shall finally get so 
many tiny threads that our hands are tied. We 
have acquired a habit. Don't be a fool. Don't 
smoke cigarettes. 

Walking is one of the most healthful forms of 
exercise. It may seem unnecessary to devote much 
space to a subject that every one thinks they know 
all about, but the fact is that, with trolley cars, 
automobiles, and horses, a great many persons have 
almost lost the ability to walk any distance. An 
excellent rule to follow if you are going anywhere 
is this: If you have the time, and the distance is 
not too great, walk. In recent years it has been 
the practice of a number of prominent business and 
professional men who get but little outdoor exercise 
to walk to and from their offices every day, rain or 
shine. In this way elderly men will average from 
seven to ten miles a day and thus keep in good 
condition with no other exercise. 



INTRODUCTORY 15 

It is very easy to cultivate the street car habit, 
and some boys feel that they must ride to and from 
school even if it is only a few blocks or squares. 
We have all read of the old men who are walking 
across the country from New York to California and 
back again and maintaining an average of forty 
miles a day. There is not a horse in the world that 
would have the endurance to go half the distance 
in the same time and keep it up day after day. 
For the first week or ten days the hprse would be far 
ahead but, like the fable of the hare and the tor- 
toise, after a while the tortoise would pass the hare 
and get in first. 

In walking for pleasure, avoid a rambling, purpose- 
less style. Decide where you are going and go. 
Walk out in the country if possible and on roads 
where the automobiles will not endanger your life 
or blow clouds of dust in your face. Never mind 
the weather. One rarely takes cold while in motion. 
To walk comfortably we should wear loose clothing 
and old shoes. Walking just for the sake of exercise 
can easily become a tiresome occupation, but the 
active mind can always see something of interest, 
such as wild flowers, gardens, and all the various 
sides of nature study in the country, and people, 
houses and life in the city. 



16 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

A tramping vacation of several days furnishes a 
fine opportunity to see new scenes and to live 
economically, but near a city you may have difficulty 
in persuading the farm-wife where you stop that 
you are not a tramp who will burn the house in the 
night. If you intend to live by the wayside, the 
surest way to inspire confidence is to show in advance 
that you have money to pay for your accommoda- 
tions. Also try to avoid looking like a tramp, which 
is quite different from looking like a tramper. 

There seems to be a great difference of opinion 
on the question of how fast one can walk. The 
popular idea is "four miles an hour" but any one who 
has tried to cover a mile every fifteen minutes will 
testify that such a rate of speed is more like a race 
than a walk and that it will require great physical 
exertion to maintain it for any considerable distance. 
An eighteen or twenty- mile walk is about all the 
average boy should attempt in a day, and this is 
allowing the full day for the task from early morning 
until sunset. 

Short and frequent rests are much better than 
long stops, which have a tendency to stiffen the mus- 
cles. The walker on a long tramp must pay especial 
attention to the care of his feet. They should be 
bathed frequently in cold water to which a little 



INTRODUCTORY 17 

alum has been added. A rough place or crease in 
the stocking will sometimes cause a very painful 
blister. 

Mountain climbing is a very interesting branch 
of walking. It is sometimes very dangerous as 
well and in such cases should only be attempted 
under the guidance of some one familiar with the 
neighbourhood. For rough climbing our shoes 
should be provided with iron hob nails. Steel 
nails often become very slippery and will cause a 
bad fall on rocks. 

Cross-country running and hare and hound chases 
are much more common in England than in America. 
Our runners as a rule excel in the sprints and short 
dashes, although in the recent Olympic sports 
we have shown that our trained athletes are the 
equal of the world in nearly all branches of sport. 

In many of the English schools it is a regular 
part of the school work for the teacher to organize 
hare and hound chases. The hares are given a 
start of several minutes and leave a trail by means 
of bits of paper or confetti, which they carry in a 
bag. In this kind of running the object to be sought 
is not so much speed as endurance. An easy dog trot 
with deep regular breathing will soon give us our 
second wind, when we can keep on for a long distance. 



18 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

After any kind of physical exertion, especially 
when we are in a perspiration, care must be exercised 
not to become chilled suddenly. A rub down with 
a rough towel will help to prevent soreness and stiff 
muscles. The lameness that follows any kind of un- 
usual exercise is an indication that certain muscles 
have been brought into use that are out of condition. 
A trained athlete does not experience this soreness 
unless he has unduly exerted himself, and the easiest 
way to get over it is to do more of the same kind of 
work until we are in condition. 



n 

THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 

Headquarters — Purpose — Scout law — How to form a 
patrol of scouts — Organization of a troop — Practical 
activities for scouts — A scout camp — Model pro- 
gramme of a Sir R. S. S. Baden-Powell scout camp 

THE Boy Scout movement that has recently 
been introduced both in England and 
America with such wonderful success is 
so closely related to nearly all branches of outdoor 
recreation and to the things that boys are interested 
in that this book would be incomplete without 
mention of the object and purposes of this organiza- 
tion. It is a splendid movement for the making 
of better citizens, and it cannot be too highly 
recommended. 

The Boy Scouts of America is a permanent or- 
ganization, and it has its headquarters at 200 Fifth 
Avenue, New York City. From the central office, 
patrols and troops are being formed all over 
the United States. Any information with reference 

19 



20 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

to the movement may be obtained by applying 
to this office. 

Through the courtesy of the managing secretary, 
Mr. John L. Alexander, certain facts are presented 
concerning the organization, which are obtained 
from their published literature, for which due credit 
is hereby given. 

The Boy Scouts is an organization the purpose 
of which is character-building for boys between the 
ages of twelve and eighteen. It is an effort to get 
boys to appreciate the things about them and to 
train them in self-reliance, manhood, and good 
citizenship. It is "peace-scouting" these boys 
engage in, living as much as possible out of doors; 
camping, hiking and learning the secrets of the woods 
and fields. The movement is not essentially military, 
but the military virtues of discipline, obedience, 
neatness and order are scout virtues. Endurance, 
self-reliance, self-control and an effort to help some 
one else are scout objectives. Every activity that 
lends itself to these aims is good scoutcraft. 

The Boy Scouts were started in England by 
Gen. Sir Robert Baden-Powell. He was impressed 
with the fact that 46 per cent, of the boys of 
England were growing up without any knowledge 
of useful occupations, and wanted to do something 



THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 21 

that would help the boy to become a useful citizen. 
He emphatically stated that his intention was not 
the making of soldiers. In his work. General 
Baden-Powell has touched the boy's life in all its 
interests and broadened a boy's outlook by the 
widest sort of activities. In two and a half years 
over half a million Boy Scouts have been enrolled, 
and twenty thousand of these have been in parade 
at one time in London. 

The scout idea has sprung up spontaneously all 
over America. In Canadian cities the Boy Scouts 
number thousands. In the United States, towns 
and cities are being swept by the idea. Gangs of 
boys are to be seen on every hand, doing their best 
at scoutcraft, "doing a good turn every day to 
some one," and getting fun out of it. Prominent 
business men and educators are behind the move- 
ment. 

The aim of the Boy Scouts is to supplement the 
various existing educational agencies, and to promote 
the ability in boys to do things for themselves and 
others. The method is summed up in the term 
"scoutcraft" and is a combination of observation, 
deduction and handiness — or the ability to do. 
Scoutcraft consists of "First Aid," Life Saving, 
Tracking, Signalling, Cycling, Nature Study, Sea- 



22 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

manship and other instruction. This is accom- 
pHshed in games and team play and in pleasure, not 
work, for the boy. The only equipment it needs 
is the out-of-doors, a group of boys and a leader. 

Before he becomes a scout, a boy must take the 
scouts' oath thus: 

"On my honour, I promise that I will do my best, 
1. To do my duty to God and my country. 2. To 
help other people at all times. 3. To obey the scout 
law." 

When taking this oath the scout will stand 
holding his right hand raised level with his shoulder, 
palm to the front, thumb resting on the nail of 
the little finger, and the other three fingers upright 
pointing upward. This the scouts' salute and 
secret sign. 

When the hand is raised shoulder high it is called 
"the half salute." 

When raised to the forehead it is called "the full 
salute." 

The three fingers held up (like the three points 
on the scouts' badge) remind him of his three 
promises in the scouts' oath. 

There are three classes of scouts. A boy on 
joining the Boy Scouts must pass a test in the fol- 
lowing points before taking the oath: 



THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 23 

Know the scouts' laws and signs and the salute. 

Know the composition of the national flag and 
the right way to fly it. 

Tie four of the following knots: Reef, sheet bend, 
clove hitch, bowline, middleman's, fisherman's, 
sheep-shank. 

He then takes the scouts' oath and is enrolled as 
a tenderfoot and is entitled to wear the buttonhole 
badge. 

A SECOND-CLASS SCOUT 

Before being awarded a second-class scout's badge, 
a boy must pass the following tests : 

1. Have at least one month's service as a tender- 
foot. 

2. Elementary first aid bandaging. 

3. Signalling. Elementary knowledge of sema- 
phore or Morse alphabet. 

4. Track half a mile in twenty -five minutes, or 
if in a town describe satisfactorily the contents of 
one store window out of four, observed for one 
minute each. 

5. Go a mile in twelve minutes at ** scouts' pace." 

6. Lay and light a fire using not more than two 
matches. 

7. Cook a quarter of a pound of meat and two 



24 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

potatoes without cooking utensils other than the 
regulation billy. 

8. Have at least twenty-five cents in the savings 
bank. 

9. Know the sixteen principal points of the 
compass. 

FIRST-CLASS SCOUT 

Before being awarded a first-class scout's badge, 
a scout must pass the following test in addition to 
the tests laid down for a second-class scout: 

1. Swim fifty yards. (This may be omitted 
where the doctor certifies that bathing is dangerous 
to the boy's health). 

2. Must have at least fifty cents in the savings 
bank. 

3. Signalling. Send and receive a message either 
in semaphore or Morse, sixteen letters per minute. 

4. Go on foot or row a boat alone to a point 
seven miles away and return again, or if con- 
veyed by any vehicle or animal go a distance of 
fifteen miles and back and write a short report 
on it. It is preferable that he should take two 
days over it. 

5. Describe or show the proper means for saving 
life in case of two of the following accidents: Fire, 



THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 25 

drowning, runaway carriage, sewer gas, ice breaking, 
or bandage an injured patient or revive an apparently 
drowned person. 

6. Cook satisfactorily two of the following dishes 
as may be directed: Porridge, bacon, hunter's 
stew; or skin and cook a rabbit or pluck and cook 
a bird. Also "make a damper" of half a pound of 
flour or a "twist" baked on a thick stick. 

7. Read a map correctly and draw an intelligent 
rough sketch map. Point out a compass direction 
without the help of a compass. 

8. Use an axe for felling or trimming light timber : 
or as an alternative produce an article of carpentry 
or joinery or metal work, made by himself satis- 
factorily. 

9. Judge distance, size, numbers and height 
within 25 per cent, error. 

10. Bring a tenderfoot trained by himself in 
the points required of a tenderfoot. 

THE scouts' law 

1. A scout's honour is to be trusted. If a scout 
were to break his honour by telling a lie, or by 
not carrying out an order exactly, when trusted 
on his honour to do so, he may be directed to 
hand over his scouts' bad^e and never to wear it 



26 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

again. He may also be directed to cease to be a 
scout. 

2. A scout is loyal to his country, his officers, 
his parents and his employers. He must stick to 
them through thick and thin against any one who 
is their enemy or who even talks badly about them. 

3. A scout's duty is to be useful and to help 
others. He must be prepared at any time to save 
life or to help injured persons, and he must try his 
best to do a good turn to somebody every day. 

4. A scout is a friend to all and a brother to 
every other scout, no matter to what social class 
the other belongs. 

5. A scout is courteous, especially to women, 
children, old people, invalids, and cripples. And 
he must never take a reward for being courteous. 

6. A scout is a friend to animals. Killing an 
animal for food is allowable. 

7. A scout obeys orders of his parents, patrol 
leader, or scout master without question. 

8. A scout smiles and whistles under all cir- 
cumstances. 

9. A scout is thrifty and saves every penny he 
can and puts it into the bank. 

The scout master is the adult leader of a troop. 
A troop consists of three or more patrols. The scout 



THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 27 

master may begin with one patrol. He must have 
a deep interest in boys, be genuine in his own Hfe, 
have the abiHty to lead and command the boys' 
respect and obedience, and possess some knowledge 
of a boy's ways. He need not be an expert on scout- 
craft. The good scout master will discover experts 
for the various activities. 

To organize a patrol, get together seven or more 
boys, explain to them the aims of the Boy Scouts, 
have them elect a leader and corporal from their 
own number and take the scout oath as tender- 
feet. To organize a local committee, call together 
the leading men of a town or city, teachers, business 
men, professional men, and all who are interested 
in the proper training of boys, for a committee to 
superintend the development of the scout movement. 

There are a number of divisions to scouting 
depending upon the place where the boys live and 
upon their opportunities. For instance, to obtain: 

An Ambulance Badge: A scout must know : The 
fireman's lift. How to drag an insensible man with 
ropes. How to improvise a stretcher. How to fling 
a life-line. The position of main arteries. How to stop 
bleeding from vein or artery, internal or external. How 
to improvise splints and to diagnose and bind fractured 
limb. The Schafer method of artificial respiration. How 



28 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

to deal with choking, burning, poison, grit in eye, sprains 
and bruises, as the examiners may require. Generally 
the laws of health and sanitation as given in "Scout- 
ing for Boys," including dangers of smoking, in conti- 
nence, want of ventilation, and lack of cleanliness. 

Aviator: A scout must have a knowledge of 
the theory of aeroplanes, ball balloons and dirigibles, 
and must have made a working model of an aero- 
plane or dirigible that will fly at least twenty-five 
yards. He must also have a knowledge of the 
engines used for aeroplanes and dirigibles. 

Bee-farmer: A scout must have a practical 
knowledge of swarming, hiving, hives, and general 
apiculture, including a knowledge of the use of 
artificial combs, etc. 

Blacksmith: A scout must be able to upset and 
weld a one-inch iron rod, make a horseshoe, know 
how to tire a wheel, use a sledge hammer and forge, 
shoe a horse correctly, and rough-shod a horse. 

Bugler: A scout must be able to sound properly 
on the bugle the Scouts' Rally and the following 
army calls: Alarm, charge, orderlies (ord. corpls.), 
orders, warning for parade, quarter bugle, fall in, 
dismiss, rations, first and second dinner calls (men's), 
reveille, last post, lights out. 

Carpenter: A scout must be able to shoot and 



THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 29 

glue a four-foot straight joint, make a housing, tenon 
and mortise, and halved joint, grind and set a chisel 
and plane iron, make a 3 ft. by 1 ft. 6 in., by 1 ft. 
by 6 ft. dovetailed locked box, or a table or chair. 

Cleric: A scout must have the following quali- 
fications: Good handwriting and hand printing. 
Ability to use typewriting machine. Ability to 
write a letter from memory on the subject given 
verbally five minutes previously. Knowledge of 
simple bookkeeping. Or, as alternative to type- 
writing, write in shorthand from dictation at twenty 
words a minute as minimum. 

Cook: A scout must be able to light a fire and 
make a cook-place with a few bricks or logs; cook 
the following dishes: Irish stew, vegetables, omelet, 
rice pudding, or any dishes which the examiner 
may consider equivalent; make tea, coffee, or cocoa; 
mix dough and bake bread in oven; or a ''damper" 
or "twist" (round steak) at a camp fire; carve 
properly, and hand plates and dishes correctly 
to people at table. 

Cyclist: A scout must sign a certificate that he 
owns a bicycle in good working order, which he is 
willing to use in the scouts' service if called upon at 
any time in case of emergency. He must be able 
to ride his bicycle satisfactorily, and repair punctures, 



30 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

etc. He must be able to read a map, and repeat 
correctly a verbal message. On ceasing to own a 
bicycle the scout must be required to hand back 
his badge. 

Dairyman: A scout must understand: Manage- 
ment of dairy cattle; be able to milk, make butter 
and cheese; understand sterilization of milk, safe 
use of preservatives, care of dairy utensils and 
appliances. 

Electrician: A scout must have a knowledge 
of method of rescue and resuscitation of persons 
insensible from shock. Be able to make a simple 
electro-magnet, have elementary knowledge of action 
of simple battery cells, and the working of electric 
bells and telephone. Understand and be able 
to remedy fused wire, and to repair broken electric 
connections. 

Engineer: A scout must have a general idea of the 
working of motor cars and steam locomotives, 
marines, internal combustion and electric engines. 
He must also know the names of the principal 
parts and their functions; how to start, drive, feed, 
stop, and lubricate any one of them chosen by the 
candidate. 

Farmer: A scout must have a practical knowledge 
of ploughing, cultivating, drilling, hedging and 



THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 31 

draining. He must also have a working knowl- 
edge of farm machinery, hay-making, reaping, 
heading and stacking, and a general acquaintance 
with the routine seasonal work on a farm, including 
the care of cattle, horses, sheep and pigs. 

Fireman: A scout must know how to give the 
alarm to inhabitants, police, etc. How to enter 
burning buildings. How to prevent spread of fire. 
Use of hose, unrolling, joining up, hydrants, use 
of nozzle, etc. The use of escape, ladders, and 
shutes; improvising ropes, jumping sheets, etc. 
The fireman's lift, how to drag patient, how to work 
in fumes, etc. The use of fire extinguishers. How 
to rescue animals. How to salve property, climb 
and pass buckets. "Scrum" to keep back crowd. 

First Aid to Animals: A scout must have a 
general knowledge of the anatomy of domestic and 
farm animals, and be able to describe treatment 
and symptoms of the following: Wounds, fractures 
and sprains, exhaustion, choking, lameness. He 
must understand shoeing and shoes, and must be 
able to give a drench for colic. 

Gardener: A scout must dig a piece of ground 
not less than twelve feet square, know the names of 
a dozen plants pointed out in an ordinary garden, 
understand what is meant by pruning, grafting 



OUTDOOR SPORTS 

and manuring, plant and grow successfully six 
kinds of vegetables or flowers from seeds or cuttings, 
cut and make a walking stick, or cut grass with 
scythe under supervision. 

Handyman: A scout must be able to paint a door 
or bath, whitewash a ceiling, repair gas fittings, 
tap washers, sash lines, window and door fastenings, 
replace gas mantles and electric light bulbs, hang 
pictures and curtains, repair blinds, fix curtain 
and portiere rods, blind fixtures, lay carpets, mend 
clothing and upholstery, do small furniture and 
china repairs, and sharpen knives. 

Horseman: A scout must know how to ride at 
all paces, and to jump an ordinary fence on horse- 
back. How to saddle and bridle a horse correctly. 
How to harness a horse correctly in single or double 
harness, and to drive. How to water and feed, and 
to what amount. How to groom his horse properly. 
The evil of bearing and hame reins and ill-fitting 
saddlery. Principal causes and remedies of lameness. 

Interpreter: A scout must be able to carry on 
a simple conversation, write a simple letter on sub- 
ject given by examiner, read and translate a passage 
from a book or newspaper, in either Esperanto or 
any language that is not that of his own country. 

Leather Worker: A scout must have a knowledge 



THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 33 

of tanning and curing, and either (a) be able to 
sole and heel a pair of boots, sewn or nailed, and 
generally repair boots and shoes: or (6) be able to 
dress a saddle, repair traces, stirrup leathers, etc., 
and know the various parts of harness. 

Marksman: A scout must pass the following 
tests for miniature rifle shooting from any position: 
N. R. A. Standard Target to be used. Twenty 
rounds to be fired at 15 or 25 yards. Highest 
possible, 100 points. A scout gaining 60 points 
or over to be classified as marksman. Scoring: 
Bull's-eye, 5 points; inner, 4 points; magpie, 3 
points; outer 2 points. Also: Judge distance on 
unknown ground: Five distances under 300 yards, 
5 between 300 and 600 yards, with not more than 
an error of 25 per cent, on the average. 

Master-at-arms: A scout must attain proficiency 
in two out of the following subjects: Single- 
stick, quarter-staff, fencing, boxing, jiu-jitsu and 
wrestling. 

Missioner: The qualifications are: A general 
elementary knowledge of sick-nursing; invalid 
cookery, sick-room attendance, bed-making, and 
ventilation. Ability to help aged and infirm. 

Musician: A scout must be able to play a musical 
instrument correctly other than triangle, and to read 



34 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

simple music. Or to play properly any kind of 
musical toy, such as a penny whistle, mouth-organ, 
etc., and sing a song. 

Pathfinder: It is necessary to know every lane, 
by-path, and short cut for a distance of at least 
two miles in every direction around the local scouts' 
headquarters in the country, or for one mile if in 
a town, and to have a general knowledge of the 
district within a five-mile radius of his local head- 
quarters, so as to be able to guide people at any 
time, by day or night. To know the general direc- 
tion of the principal neighbouring towns for a 
distance of twenty-five miles, and to be able to 
give strangers clear directions how to get to them. 
To know, in the country, in the two-mile radius, 
generally, how many hayricks, strawricks, wagons, 
horses, cattle, sheep and pigs there are on the 
diflferent neighbouring farms; or, in a town, to know 
in a half-mile radius what livery stabling, corn 
chandlers, forage merchants, bakers, butchers, there 
are. In town or country to know where are the 
police stations, hospitals, doctors, telegraph, tele- 
phone offices, fire engines, turncocks, blacksmiths 
and job-masters or factories, where over a dozen 
horses are kept. To know something of the history 
of the place, or of any old buildings, such as the 



THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 35 

church, or other edifice. As much as possible of 
the above information is to be entered on a large 
scale map. 

Photographer: A scout must have a knowledge 
of the theory and use of lenses, and the construction 
of cameras, action of developers. He must take, 
develop and print twelve separate subjects, three 
interiors, three portraits, three landscapes and three 
instantaneous photographs. 

Pioneer: A scout must have extra efficiency in 
pioneering in the following tests, or suitable 
equivalents : Fell a nine-inch tree or scaffolding pole 
neatly and quickly. Tie eight kinds of knots quickly 
in the dark or blindfolded. Lash spars properly 
together for scaffolding. Build model bridge or 
derrick. Make a camp kitchen. Build a hut of 
one kind or another suitable for three occupants. 

Piper: A scout must be able to play a march 
and a reel on the pipes, to dance the sword-dance, 
and must wear kilt and Highland dress. 

Plumber: A scout must be able to make wiped 
and brazed joints, to cut and fix a window pane, 
repair a burst pipe, mend a ball or faucet tap, and 
understand the ordinary hot and cold water system 
of a house. 

Poultry Farmer: A scout must have a good knowl- 



36 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

edge of incubators, brooders, sanitary fowl-houses 
and coops and runs; also of rearing, feeding, killing, 
and dressing birds for market; also he must be able 
to pack birds and eggs for market. 

Printer: A scout must know the' names of 
different types and paper sizes. Be able to compose 
by hand or machine, understand the use of hand 
or power printing machines. He must also print 
a handbill set up by himself. 

Seaman: A scout must be able to tie eight knots 
rapidly in the dark or blindfolded. Splice ropes, 
fling a rope coil. Row and punt a boat single- 
handed, and punt with pole, or scull it over the 
stern. Steer a boat rowed by others. Bring the 
boat properly alongside and make it fast. Box the 
compass. Read a chart. State direction by the 
stars and sun. Swim fifty yards with trousers, socks, 
and shirt on. Climb a rope or pole of fifteen feet, or, 
as alternative, dance the hornpipe correctly. Sew 
and darn a shirt and trousers. Understand the 
general working of steam and hydraulic winches, 
and have a knowledge of weather wisdom and knowl- 
edge of tides. 

Signaller: A scout must pass tests in both send- 
ing and receiving in semaphore and Morse signalling 
by flag, not fewer than twenty-four letters per 



THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 37 

minute. He must be able to give and read signals 
by sound. To make correct smoke and flame signals 
with fires. To show the proper method of signalling 
with the staff. 

Stalker: A scout must take a series of twenty 
photographs of wild animals or birds from life, and 
develop and print them. Or, alternately, he must 
make a collection of sixty species of wild flowers, 
ferns, or grasses, dried and mounted in a book and 
correctly named. Or, alternately, he must make 
coloured drawings of twenty flowers, ferns or grasses, 
or twelve sketches from life of animals and birds. 
Original sketches, as well as the finished pictures, 
to be submitted. Or, alternately he must be able 
to name sixty different kinds of animals, insects, 
reptiles, or birds in a museum or zoological garden, 
or from unnamed coloured plates, and give partic- 
ulars of the lives, habits, appearance and markings 
of twenty of them. 

Starman: A scout must have a general knowledge 
of the nature and movements of the stars. He must 
be able to point out and name six principal constel- 
lations. Find the north by means of other stars 
than the Pole Star in case of that star being obscured 
by clouds, etc., and tell the hour of the night by 
the stars or moon. He must have a general knowl- 



38 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

edge of the positions and movements of the earth, 
sun and moon, and of tides, eclipses, meteors, 
comets, sun spots, planets. 

Surveyor: A scout must map correctly, from the 
country itself, the main features of a half a mile 
of road, with 440 yards each side, to a scale of two 
feet to the mile, and afterward re-draw same map 
from memory. Measure the heights of a tree, 
telegraph pole and church steeple, describing method 
adopted. Measure width of a river, and distance 
apart of two objects a known distance away and 
unapproachable. Be able to measure a gradient, 
contours, conventional signs of ordnance survey 
and scales. 

Swimming and Life Saving: A scout must be able 
to dive and swim fifty yards with clothes on (shirt, 
trousers, socks as minimum). Able to fling and 
use life-line or life-buoy. Able to demonstrate two 
ways of rescue of drowning person, and revival of 
apparently drowned. 

THE PATROL 

The simplest way to form a patrol of scouts is 
to call together a small group of boys over twelve 
years of age. A simple recital of the things that 



THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 39 

scouts do, with perhaps an opportunity to look over 
the Manual, will be enough to launch the or- 
ganization. The selection of a patrol leader will then 
follow, and the scouting can begin. It is well not to 
attempt too much at the start. Get the boys to start 
work to pass the requirements for the tenderfoot. 

The Patrol Leader: Each patrol should have a 
patrol leader — preferably a boy. The choice of 
this leader has much to do with the success of 
the patrol. He should be a recognized leader among 
the boys in the group. Do not hesitate to entrust 
him with details. Let him feel that he is your 
right-hand man. Ask his opinion on matters per- 
taining to the patrol. Make him feel that the 
success of the organization depends largely upon 
him, being careful, of course, not to overdo it. 
You will find that this attitude will enlist the hearty 
cooperation of the boy and you will find him an un- 
tiring worker, with the ability to bind the boys 
closer together than you could ever hope to do alone. 

POINTS OF INTEREST 

1. Scouting does not consist in wearing a khaki 
suit or a lot of decorations. It is in doing the things 
that are required for the tenderfoot, second-class 
and first-class scout badges and the badges of merit. 



40 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

2. Scouts do not wish any one to buy things for 
them. They buy their own equipment and pay 
their own way. 

3. Scouts do their best to keep the scout oath and 
law. 

4. The glory of scouting is ''to do a good turn to 
some one every day without reward." 

5. Scouts regard the rights of others, and do not 
trespass on the property or feelings of others. 

6. Scouting means obedience and discipline. The 
boy who can't obey will never command. 

7. Scouts are always busy and getting fun out 
of it — at work, at school, at home, at play. Be a 
good scout, 

HOW TO ORGANIZE A TROOP 

First: Write to Headquarters, which is at 200 
Fifth Avenue, New York City, for a scout master's 
certificate. 

Second: Either combine three or more patrols 
or having one patrol, appoint several patrol leaders 
and enlist boys for the new patrols. 

Third: The minimum number of patrols in a 
troop is three, and the maximum the number a 
scout master can rightly handle. Care should be 
taken not to organize for the sake of a big showing. 



THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 41 

Hints on starting: In actually starting a troop, 
it has been found better to start in a small way. 
Begin by one or two leader-men making a careful 
study of "Scouting for Boys/' and as soon as the 
main ideas have been grasped, get together a small 
number of boys, and go through with them the 
initial stages step by step, until the boys bubble 
over with scouting ideals, and until the notion 
of a fancy uniform and games in the country have 
given place to a definite desire to qualify for manhood 
and citizenship. These boys will make the nucleus 
round which to form a troop, and should pass on 
their training and enthusiasm to the boys who are 
enlisting under them. It has been found better to 
obtain distinctly older fellows for patrol leaders: 
the scout masters should invariably be men who 
feel the great responsiblity of having boys under 
their charge, and the possibility of leading the boys 
from the moment when they enlist in the scouts 
>feo the time they pass out again to be fully fledged 
men. 

Finances: The finances necessary to run a troop 
of scouts should be met by the scouts themselves. 
It is a main principle of scouting to teach the boys 
to be self-reliant, and anything which will militate 



42 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

against the constant sending round of the hat will 
be a national good. 

The Scout Master: The scout master is the 
adult leader of a troop. The scout master may- 
begin with one patrol. He must have a deep interest 
in boys, be genuine in his own life, have the ability 
to lead and command the boys' respect and obedience 
and possess some knowledge of a boy's ways. He 
need not be an expert on scoutcraft. The good 
scout master will discover experts for the various 
activities. Applications for scout masters' certifi- 
cates may be made at the Headquarters, 200 Fifth 
Avenue, New York City. 

From the outset, the scout master must have 
the interest of each boy at heart. He must not play 
favourites with any of the boys in his patrol or 
troop. While there are sure to be boys in the 
group who will develop more rapidly than others, 
and whose keenness will be sure to call forth the 
admiration of the scout master, he should not per- 
mit himself to be "carried away" by the achieve- 
ments of these "star boys" to such an extent that 
he will neglect the less aggressive boy. The latter 
boy is the one who needs your attention most, and 
your interest in him must be genuine. Every eflFort 



THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 43 

he makes, no matter how poor it may be, should 
be commended just as heartily as the better accom- 
plishments of the more handy boy. 

PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES FOR SCOUTS 

1. Scoutcraft: Boy Scouts' organization, scout 
laws, discipline, scouts' secret signs, badges, etc. 

2. Campaigning: Camp life and resourceful- 
ness. Hut and mat making. Knots. Fire light- 
ing. Cooking. Boat management. Judging dis- 
tances, heights and numbers. Swimming. Cycling. 
Finding the way. 

SIGN POSTS 

1. Do not have in the same patrol boys of great 
disparity in ages. For instance, the boy of twelve 
should not be in the same group with the sixteen- 
year-old boy, if it can possibly be avoided. You 
must remember that in most cases the things that 
appeal to the younger boy will have no attraction 
for the older boy. 

2. Do not enroll boys under twelve. If you do 
you are certain to lose your older boy. The move- 
ment is distinctly for boys of the adolescent period 
and is designed to help them to rightly catch the 
spirit of helpfulness. 



44 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

3. Do not try to do everything yourself. Try 
to remember that the boys are always willing and 
anxious to take hold. Let the boys understand 
that the whole proposition is theirs. It is what 
they make it. Your contract with them should be 
largely of a big brother nature. 

4. Do not burden nor weary the boys with 
excessive military drills and tactics. The move- 
ment is not a military one. The military virtues 
of obedience, neatness, order, endurance and erect, 
alert bearing, however, are scout virtues. Use every- 
thing that develops boys. This is good scoutcraft. 

5. Do not confine the activities of the patrols 
to things of one character. Touch every activity 
as far as possible. Do not omit anything. Get 
the proper agencies to cooperate with you for 
these ends — a military man for signalling; a natu- 
ralist for woodcraft; a physician for first aid, etc. 

6. Do not permit the boys to fail in the proper 
keeping of the scout oath and law. 

7. Never fail to keep an engagement with your 
patrol or troop. If something should delay your 
coming or should you find yourself unable to keep 
an appointment with them, be sure to notify the 
patrol leaders beforehand. It might be well to 
require the same of the boys. 



THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 45 

8. A real danger point is the failure of a scout 
master to visit the boys in their homes. Knowing 
the boys' parents means much, and their coopera- 
tion will be much heartier when they know the man 
to whose care they entrust their boy, after he has 
discussed with them the real purpose of the scout 
movement. 

9. Do not hesitate to give a boy a hard task, 
but not an impossible one. A boy likes to do hard 
things. 

10. Do not attempt right at the start to give the 
boy every bit of detail regarding the activities of 
the troop. Work out the plans with the boys from 
time to time, always reserving some things of in- 
terest for the next meeting. Your attempt to give 
them everything at one time will cause the whole 
proposition to assume the nature of a task instead 
of pleasurable education, as was originally 
intended. 

11. Hold frequent tests for advancement to the 
classes of scouthood. Get your fellows to really 
win their badges. 

12. As a scout master use good judgment. If 
there are other scout masters in your town, or a 
scout council or local committee, cooperate with 
these. To be a scout master, you must have the 



46 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

spirit of '76, but be sure to work with others. The 
boys will benefit by the lesson. 

THE scouts' camp 

To go camping should mean more than merely 
living under canvas away from the piles of brick 
and stone that make up our cities. To be in the 
open air, to breathe pure oxygen, to sleep upon "a 
bed of boughs beside the trail," to look at the camp 
fire and the stars, and to hear the whisper of the 
trees — all of this is good. But the camp offers 
a better opportunity than this. It offers the finest 
method for a boy's education. Between twelve 
and eighteen years the interests of a boy are general 
ones, and reach from the catching of tadpoles and 
minnows to finding God in the stars. His interests 
are the general mass interests that are so abundant 
in nature, the activities that give the country boy 
such an advantage for the real enjoyment of life over 
the city lad. Two weeks or two months in camp, 
they are too valuable to be wasted in loafing, ciga- 
rette smoking, card playing or shooting craps. To 
make a camp a profitable thing there must needs 
be instruction; not formal but informal instruction. 
Scouting, nature study, scout law, camp cooking, 
signalling, pioneering, path finding, sign reading. 



THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 47 

stalking for camera purposes, knowledge of animals 
and plants, first aid, life saving, manual work 
(making things), hygiene, sex instruction, star 
gazing, discipline, knowing the rocks and trees, 
and the ability to do for one's self, in order that a 
boy may grow strong, self-reliant, and helpful. This 
is a partial list of the subject in the camp curricula. 

A model scout camp programme is given here. 
It takes eight days to carry it out, but there is 
material enough to run ten times the number of 
days specified. 

A Sir R. S. S. Baden-Powell Scout Camp Model 
Programme 

First Day: Preliminary work: settling into camp, 
formation of patrols, distribution of duties, orders, 
etc. 

Second Day: Campaigning: camp resourceful- 
ness, hut and mat making, knots, fire lighting, 
cooking, health and sanitation, endurance, find- 
ing way in strange country, and boat management. 

Third Day: Observation: noticing and mem- 
orizing details far and near, landmarks, tracking, 
deducing meaning from tracks and signs, and 
training the eyesight. 

Fourth Day: Woodcraft: study of animals, birds. 



48 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

plants and stars; stalking animals, noticing people, 
reading their character and condition, and thereby 
gaining their sympathy. 

Fifth Day: Chivalry: honour, code of knights, 
unselfishness, courage, charity and thrift; loyalty 
to God, country, parents and employers, or ofiicers; 
practical chivalry to women; the obligation to do a 
''good turn" daily, and how to do it. 

Sixth Day: Saving life: from fire, drowning, 
sewer gas, runaway horses, panic, street accidents, 
improvised apparatus, and first aid. 

Seventh Day: Patriotism: national geography, 
the history and deeds that won our world power, 
the navy and army, flags, medals, duties of a citizen, 
marksmanship, helping the police. 

Eighth Day: A summary of the whole course: 
sports comprising games and competitive prac- 
tices in all subjects of the course. 





CAMP ROUTINES 


6.30 a.m. 


Turn out, bathe, etc. 


7.00 " 


Breakfast 


8.00 " 


Air bedding in sun if possible 


9.00 " 


Scouting games and practice 


11.00 " 


Swimming 


12.00 m. 


Dinner 



THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 49 

1.00 p.m. Talk by leader 

2.00 *' Water games, etc. 

6.00 " Supper 

7.30 " Evening council around camp fire 
Order of business: 
Opening council Complaints 

Roll-call Honours 

Record of last council New scouts 
Report of scouts New business 

Left-over business Challenges 

Social doings, songs, dances, stories 
Closing council (devotional services when desired) 
10.00 p.m. Lights out. 

The father of scouting for boys in America, and 
in fact the inspiration for the movement in England 
under Lieut. -Gen. Sir Robert S. S. Baden-Powell, 
K.C.B., is Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton, the dis- 
tinguished naturalist and nature student. 

The official handbook of the organization may be 
obtained from Doubleday, Page and Company, 
Garden City, N. Y., the publishers of this book, 
or from the national headquarters of The Boy 
Scouts of America. 



Ill 

CAMPS AND CAMPING 

How to select the best place and to pitch the tent — A brush 

bed — The best kind of a tent — How to make the camp 

fire — What to do when it rains — Fresh air and 

good food — The brush leanto and how to make it 

GOING camping is the best fun in the world 
if we know how to do it. Every healthy 
boy and girl if given an opportunity should 
enjoy living outdoors for a week or two and playing 
at being an Indian. There is more to camping 
however than "roughing it" or seeing how much 
hardship we can bear. A good camper always makes 
himself just as comfortable as he can under the cir- 
cumstances. The saying that ''an army travels on 
its stomach" means that a soldier can not make long 
marches or fight hard unless he has good food. The 
surest sign of a ''tenderfoot" is the boy who makes 
fun of you because you try to have a soft dry bed 
while he prefers to sleep on the ground under the mis- 
taken idea that it is manly or brave. He will usually 
spoil a trip in the woods for every one in the party. 

50 



CAMPS AND CAMPING 51 

Another poor kind of a camper pitches his tent 
so that his bed gets wet and his food spoiled on the 
first rainy day, and then sits around cold and hungry 
trying hard to think that he is having fun, to keep 
from getting homesick. This kind of a boy ** locks 
the door after the horse is stolen." If we go camping 
we must know how to prevent the unpleasant things 
from happening. We must always be ready for 
wind and rain, heat and cold. A camping party 
should make their plans a long time ahead in order 
to get their equipment ready. Careful lists should 
be made of what we think we shall need. After 
we are out in the woods, there will be no chance 
to run around the corner to the grocer's to supply 
what we have forgotten. If it is forgotten, we must 
simply make the best of it and not allow it to spoil 
our trip. 

It is surprising how many things that we think 
are almost necessary to life we can get along without 
if we are obliged to. The true woodsman knows 
how to turn to his use a thousand of nature's gifts 
and to make himself comfortable, while you and I 
might stand terrified and miserable under the same 
conditions. 

Daniel Boone, the great wilderness traveller, 
could go out alone in the untracked forest with noth- 



52 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

ing but his rifle, his axe and a small pack on his 
back and by a knowledge of the stars, the rivers, the 
trees and the wild animals, he could go for weeks 
travelling hundreds of miles, building his bed and 
his leanto out of the evergreen boughs, lighting his 
fire with his flint and steel, shooting game for his 
food and dressing and curing their skins for his 




With a head shelter and a sleeping bag he can keep dry and warm 

clothing and in a thousand ways supplying his needs 
from nature's storehouse. The school of the woods 
never sends out graduates. We may learn some- 
thing new every day. 

The average city boy or girl does not have an 
opportunity to become a skilled master of wood- 
craft, but because we cannot learn it all is no reason 
why we should not learn something. The best way 



CAMPS AND CAMPING 53 

to learn it is in the woods themselves and not out 
of books. 

A party of four boys makes a good number for 
a camping trip. They will probably agree better 
than two or three. They can do much of the camp 
work in pairs. No one need to be left alone to look 
after the camp while the others go fishing or hunting 
or to some nearby town for the mail or for supplies. 
There is no reason why four boys of fifteen who are 
resourceful and careful cannot spend a week or 
two in the woods in perfect safety and come back 
home sounder in mind and body than when they 
left. It is always better to take along some one who 
has "camped out" before. If he cannot be found, 
then make your plans, decide what you will do and 
how you will do it, take a few cooking lessons from 
mother or the cook — if the latter is good-natured — 
and go anyway. First elect a leader, not because 
he is any more important than the rest but because 
if some one goes ahead and gives directions, the life 
in camp will run much more smoothly and every one 
will have a better time. 

If it is your first experience in camping, you had 
better go somewhere near home. The best place 
is one that can be reached by wagon. If we have 
to carry our supplies on our backs or in a canoe, the 



54 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

amount we can take will be much less. After 
you have had some experience near home you can 
safely try the other way. Where you go is of com- 
paratively little importance. Near every large city 
there is some lake or river where you can find a 
good camping site. Campers always have more fun 
if they are near some water, but if such a place is 
not easily found near where you live, go into the 
woods. Try to get away from towns or villages. 
The wilder the place is, the better. 

You had better make sure of your camping ground 
before you go by writing a letter to the owner of 
the land. It isn't much fun after we have pitched 
the tent and made everything shipshape to have 
some angry landowner come along and order us oflf 
because we are trespassers. 

In selecting a place to camp, there are several 
very important things to look out for. 

1 . Be sure you are near a supply of drinking water. 
A spring or a brook is best, but even the lake or 
river will do if the water is pure and clean. The 
water at the bottom of a lake is always much colder 
and cleaner than the surface water. When I was 
a boy, I used a simple device for getting cold 
water which some of you may like to copy. I took 
an old-fashioned jug and fastened a strong string to 



CAMPS AND CAMPING 55 

the handle and also fastened this string to the cork 
of the jug as the drawing shows. The jug was weigh- 
ted so that it would sink, by means of a piece 
of stone tied to the handle. We used to go out 
to the middle of the lake where the water was the 
deepest and lower the jug over the side of a boat. 
When it reached bottom we 
would give the string a sharp 
tug and thus pull out the cork. 
The bubbles coming to the sur- 
face showed us when the jug 
was full. We then hauled it 
on board and had clear, cold, 
drinking water from a lake that 
on the surface was warm enough 
for swimming. 

^ rr^i , . , , ,1 • The jug by which we obtained 

2. 1 he next important tmng pure, cold water 

in selecting a camp is being near a supply of 
firewood. A week in camp will consume an amaz- 
ing amount of wood, especially if we have a 
camp fire at night to sit around and sing and tell 
stories before turning in. In most sections there 
is plenty of dead wood that we can use for camp 
fires. This does not mean a lot of twigs and 
brush. There is no use trying to go camping unless 
some one knows how to use an axe. In another 




56 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

chapter I will tell you something about the proper 
use of axes and hatchets. For the present it is 
suflScient to say that an excellent place to practise 
handling an axe is on the family woodpile. You 
will thus combine business and pleasure, and your 
efforts will be appreciated by your family, which 
would not be the case if, like George Washington, 
you began your lessons in woodcraft on the favourite 
cherry tree. 

Almost any kind of wood will burn when it is dry, 
but it takes experience to know the kinds of trees 
that will burn when they are green. If there is no 
dry wood in the neighbourhood, and we are obliged 
to cut a tree down to get our supply, it is very im- 
portant to pitch our camp somewhere near the right 
kind of a tree and not be obliged to carry our fire- 
wood a long distance. The best "green wood" 
for the campers' fire is hickory, although birch is 
excellent. Hickory is also the best dry wood. 
Other trees that will burn well when green are 
cedar, white ash, locust or white oak. There are 
comparatively few places, however, where dry wood 
is not available and of course it is always best to 
avoid such a place. 

3. The camp site should be in a fairly open spot. 
Thick woods and underbrush are either hot or 



CAMPS AND CAMPING 57 

**damp" cool. If you can find a site that is shaded 
during the heat of the day so much the better. It 
is unwise to pitch the tent under a tree that stands 
alone on account of possible danger from lightning. 
If your tent is shaded by a tree be sure there are no 
dead limbs to blow off and wreck it during a storm. 

Be sure that the drainage is good, so that in case 
of heavy rains, the water will run off and not flood 
the camp. It is very important if your camp is 
along some river or stream to be high enough to 
avoid the danger of sudden floods. This can usually 
be determined by talking to some one who knows 
the country.^ You can also tell it by studying the 
previous high water marks in the trees. In case 
of floods there are always some wisps of straw, pieces 
of brush, etc., caught and held by the limbs of trees 
after the water settles back to its former level. 
It is a good chance to practise your woodcraft by 
trying to find them. 

Damp locations are very bad. The higher we 
can get, the drier it will be. We avoid both fogs 
and mosquitoes. Usually there is some prominent 
place that will give us a good outlook and where 
the breezes can reach us. 

There are both good and bad points in pitching 
our tent on the site of a former camp. As long as 



58 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

the former campers have not scoured the surrounding 
neighbourhood for firewood nor have left a place 
littered up with all sorts of rubbish and garbage 
to draw flies and vermin, they may have fixed up 
things around the camp site to save us work and to 




A wall tent 

add to our comfort and pleasure. Each case will 
have to be decided on its own merits. 

The three important things then are the water 
supply, the firewood supply, and good drainage. 

Next in importance to the camp site is the outfit, 
and the most important thing is the tent. For a 
party of four boys on their first camping trip, the 
best kind will be a wall tent. A tent, 11 x 14 feet 
will be large enough to provide sleeping quarters 
and to have every one comfortable. A simple 



CAMPS AND CAMPING 59 

shelter of canvas outside can be provided as a dining- 
room but this is more of a luxury than a real necessity. 

Canvas or duck is the common material from 
which tents are made. The standard eight-ounce 
khaki duck used in the United States army will, 
for this size tent, cost about twenty dollars. This 
will include a fly, which is merely a second roof to 
the tent. The best material for tents is balloon 
silk. It is much more waterproof than canvas and 
only weighs a quarter as much. It is also much 
more expensive. A tent can be made at home, 
which is of course the cheaper way. They can also 
be hired from previous campers or from some awning 
maker who is also usually a tent maker. 

A canvas tent without a fly will leak in a rain 
storm if the roof is touched on the inside either by 
our hands or our clothing. It may be made partially 
waterproof by a coating of parafiine which has been 
previously dissolved in turpentine. The simplest 
and at the same time the warmest tent for an ex- 
perienced camper who knows the tricks of the trade 
is a leanto tent, one with one side entirely open, 
in front of which a blazing fire may be kept burning. 
This is hardly adapted for boys on their first trip, 
however. 

Another very good and very simple tent is the 



60 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

"A" tent used in the army. This looks Hke a ''V" 
turned upside down. We can pitch it without the 
aid of tent poles by simply hanging it beween two 
trees to which a rope has been stretched. 

The Hudson Bay tent, trapper's tent, forester's 
tent, canoe tent, and a dozen others, including an 
Indian tepee and wigwam, are all good tents for 




An "A" tent 

special purposes. The pictures show the different 
styles and all of them are designed for special uses, 
either for warmth or lightness in carrying or ease 
in pitching. If we go camping in summer and can 
have our equipment or 'Muffle," as the woodsmen 
call it, carried by team, the wall tent will be the best 
one to take. 

Tent pegs can always be cut in the woods, but 
it is far more satisfactory to get them ready at home 



CAMPS AND CAMPING 61 

before we leave. If you do cut your own pegs, 
select hardwood saplings to make them from and to 
further harden the points, char them slightly in a 
fire. If you spend a few winter evenings at home 
making the pegs, it will save you a lot of time and 
trouble when you reach the camping ground. The 
best pegs are made of iron or steel. This is espe- 
cially true when the ground where they are to be 
driven is hard or rocky, which is usually the case. 
Steel tent pins may be bought for six cents apiece 
or possibly the local blacksmith will make them for 
less. They should be a foot long. 

A sod cloth is a strip of canvas eight or ten inches 
wide fastened to the bottom of the tent wall. Its 
purpose is to keep the wind and rain from blowing 
under the tent. After the tent is pitched a ditch 
should be dug all around it to catch the rain and 
carry it away. The earth that is dug from this 
trench may be thrown on the sod cloth to hold it 
down. 

It is an excellent idea, if you are a beginner, to prac- 
tise pitching the tent at home so that you will under- 
stand it better when you are in the woods. Besides 
this, you can try sleeping out a night or two to see 
how you are going to like it. 

When you reach your camping place, the first 



OUTDOOR SPORTS 




step is to clear the ground of all rubbish, loose stones, 
sticks and brush to have a clean floor. Then un- 
pack the tent and 
fit the pegs of the 
two upright poles 
through the two 
holes in the ridge 
pole. Next raise the 
tent and peg the guy- 
ropes on the four 

A trapper's tent COmcrS first. A little 

practice will show you how to do this. After all 
the ropes are pegged at a proper distance from 
the tent, they should be tightened and the tent 
made secure. 

Always plan to have a full four hours of daylight 
to make your camp ready. If the drive is a long 
one and you are obliged to get up very early in the 
morning, you will have to do it, that is all. I made 
my first camping trip when I was twelve years old. 
We had just reached the camping ground, unloaded 
our kit and sent the team home that brought us 
when — bang ! over the mountain across the lake 
from where we were going to camp, a terrific thunder 
shower came up and in a few minutes it was pouring. 
There was our whole outfit — tent, bedding and food 



CAMPS AND CAMPING 63 

— getting soaked because, instead of hurrying along 
during the day, we had fooled away our time trying 
to catch fish in wayside brooks that had never seen 
a fish and not realizing how important it is to make 
haste as well as hay while the sun shines. 

We quickly pitched the tent, not as it should have 




An Indian tepee 

been pitched, but in a heap over the rest of our goods 
to keep out as much water as possible and then ran 
for a nearby barn where we spent a cold hungry night, 
wetter but wiser. The next day, out came the sun 
and dried our things, but if the rain had continued 
we certainly should have been obliged to go home 
or at least to a farmhouse to stay until the weather 



64 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

cleared. We soon forgot our unpleasant experience 
but we have not forgotten the lesson it taught — 
and that is not to waste time along the road when 
there is work to be done at the journey's end. 

Next to a good tent, the most important thing for 
the camper is a good bed. It is even more impor- 
tant than good food because if we sleep well, hunger 
will furnish the sauce for our grub, but if we spend 
the night trying to dodge some root or rock that is 
boring into our back and that we hardly felt when 
we turned in but which grew to an enormous size 
in our imagination before morning, we will be half 
sick and soon get enough of being an Indian. A 
canvas cot makes the best camp bed if it can be 
taken along conveniently. There is one important 
thing to look out for in sleeping on a cot. In my 
first experience of the kind, I nearly froze. I kept 
piling things on me until all my clothing, and even 
the camp towels and table-cloth were pressed into 
service and was thinking about pulling some dry grass 
to pile on the rest of the stuff. Still I shivered 
until I discovered that the cold was coming up from 
underneath because there was nothing to keep it out 
but the single thickness of canvas. When I put one 
of my blankets under me, I was as warm as toast. 

Very often it is impossible to carry cots on a trip. 



CAMPS AND CAMPING 65 

and that is where a knowledge of woodcraft comes 
in. The softest, sweetest, downiest bed in the 
world can be made with no other materials but 
those which grow in the forest — if we know how. 
At least the tired camper will think it is soft and will 
sleep on it like a top and wake up refreshed in the 
morning. Perhaps if we had our choice we would 
prefer our own bed at home, but in the woods 
we do not have this choice. Most people call this 




How the bough bed is made 

a bed of "pine boughs." Why I do not know as it 
never should be made of pine under any circum- 
stances. The best wood for the bough bed is balsam. 
If this does not grow in the neighbourhood, hemlock, 
spruce, or even cedar will do. To make a bough bed 
properly means a lot of work. The first step is 
to cut four straight sticks. The side pieces should 
be six feet and a half long and the end pieces three 
feet and a half. They should be notched on the ends 
with an axe and either nailed or tied together from 
saplings or from a tree that you have felled. Small 
balsam boughs should be broken off with the fingers 



66 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

and laid one on the other until the whole bed is 
filled with them. On this, the rubber blanket or 
poncho should be spread and the blankets over all. 
All the boughs should be shingled with the stems 
down to keep them in the best condition. This 
kind of a bed will require remaking every day. 

A better bed for the boy camper is made as follows : 
Take a piece of heavy bed ticking and sew it into a 
bag about three feet by six feet. When you reach 
camp you can make a regular mattress by filling it 
with whatever material is most easily found. 
Dry leaves, grass, hay, even moss or wet filler can 
be used if nothing dry can be found, but in this 
case the rubber blanket will be an absolute neces- 
sity. Of course it is much better to use some dry 
material. 

Be sure to have a comfortable bed. No matter 
what ideas you may have about cowboys and soldiers 
rolling up in their blankets and snatching a few hours' 
sleep under the stars by lying on the bare ground, 
a boy who is used to a good bed at home will never 
have much fun out of a camping trip if he tries to 
sleep on the ground with a rock for his pillow. 

For a summer camping trip, one blanket is enough. 
You must learn to roll up in it. Lie flat on your 
back and cover the blanket, over you. Then raise 



CAMPS AND CAMPING 67 

up your legs and tuck it under first on one side and 
then the other. The rest is easy. This beats 
trying to "roll up" in it, actually. The common 
summer blankets used at home are not much use 
for the camper. These are usually all cotton. 
A camper's blanket should be all wool. You can buy 
a standard U. S. Army blanket, size 66 x 84 inches, 
for five dollars. They can often be purchased in 
stores that deal in second hand army supplies for 
much less and are just as good as new except for 
some slight stain or defect. 

A sleeping bag is expensive but is excellent for cold 
weather camping. It is much too hot for the boy 
camper in summer. 

Do not sleep in your clothing. Unless it is too 
cold, undress, about as you do at home. If the 
blanket feels tickly, it would not be a great crime, 
no matter what the tenderfoot says who wanted 
you to sleep on the ground, to take along a sheet. 
I have never done this, however. 

At the end of this chapter, you will find a list of 
things to take with you. 

The camp fire and the cooking fire should be 
separate. Almost any one can kindle a fire with 
dry materials. It takes a woodman to build a fire 
when it has been raining and everything is wet. The 



68 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

boy's method of taking a few newspapers, and a 
handful of brush or leaves will not do. 

First look around for an old dead top of a pine 
or cedar. If you cannot find one, chop down a 
cedar tree. Whittle a handful of splinters and 
shavings from the dry heart. Try to find the 
lee side of a rock or log where the wind and rain do 
not beat in. First put down the shavings or some 
dry birch bark if you can find it, and shelter it as 
well as you can from the rain. Pile up some larger 
splinters of wood over the kindling material like 
an Indian's wigwam. Then light it and give it a 
chance to get into a good blaze before you pile on 
any larger wood and put the whole fire out. It 
sounds easy but before you try it in the woods 
I advise you to select the first rainy day and go out 
near hgme and experiment. 

To make a fire that will burn in front of the tent 
all night, first drive two green stakes into the 
ground at a slant and about five feet apart. Then 
lay two big logs one on each side of a stake to serve 
as andirons. Build a fire between these logs and 
pile up a row of logs above the fire and leaning 
against the stakes. You may have to brace the 
stakes with two others which should have a forked 
end. When the lower log burns out the next one 



CAMPS AND CAMPING 69 

will drop down in its place and unless you have 
soft, poor wood the fire should burn for ten hours. 
With this kind of a fire and with a leanto, it is possible 
to keep warm in the woods, on the coldest night in 
winter. 

This is the way to build a brush leanto: First 
cut two sticks and drive them into the ground. 
They should have a point on one end and a fork on 




The frame for a brush leanto 

the other. Lay a stout pole across the two forks 
like a gypsy fire rig. Then lean poles against the 
crosspiece and finally thatch the roof with spruce, 
hemlock or other boughs and pile up boughs for 
the sides. A brush camp is only a makeshift 
arrangement and is never weather proof. It is 
simply a temporary shelter which with the all-night 
fire burning in front will keep a man from freezing 
to death in the woods. Any kind of a tent is better 
or even a piece of canvas or a blanket for the roof 
of the leanto will be better than the roof of boughs. 



70 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

Be careful not to set the leanto on fire with the sparks 
from your camp fire. 

Mosquitoes have probably spoiled more camping 
trips that any other one thing. The best tents 
have mosquito net or cheese cloth fronts which may 
be held close to the ground by a stick on the bottom. 
Perhaps the easiest way to secure protection is for 
each boy to take along a few yards of cotton mos- 
quito netting and by means of curved sticks build 
a canopy over his bed. 

A smoky fire called a "smudge" will sometimes 
keep the pests away from the neighbourhood of 
the tent or if we build it in the tent will drive them 
out, but the remedy is almost as bad as the disease. 
As a rule they will only be troublesome at night and 
the net over our bed will enable us to sleep in peace. 

The most common "dope" used in the woods 
to keep off mosquitoes is called oil of citronella. 
It has a very pungent odour that the mosquitoes 
do not like and the chances are that you will not like 
it either. At the same time it may be a good plan 
to take a small bottle along. 

You may safely count on finding mosquitoes, 
no matter where you go or what the people tell you 
who live there. Perhaps they have never tried 
sleeping in the woods and do not know. Be sure 



CAMPS AND CAMPING 71 

therefore to take along some netting or cheese cloth 
to protect yourself against them. 

Everything that you can do at home to get ready 
for your camping trip will add to your pleasure when 
you get out in the woods. If any part of your kit 
needs fixing, fishing rods wound or varnished, your 
jackknife ground, your camera fixed, or if your 
clothing needs any patches or buttons, do it at 
home. 

No one ever does half that he plans to on a trip 
like this unless he does not plan to do anything. 
Take along a few books to read for the rainy days 
and have them covered with muslin if you ever 
expect to put them back into your library. 

If you have been putting off a visit to the dentist, 
by all means do it before you get out where there 
are no dentists. An aching tooth can spoil a vaca- 
tion in the woods about as easily as anything I 
know of. 

As a final word of advice to the beginner in' 
camping, let me tell you a few things that my own 
experience has taught me. 

A felt hat is better than a cap as it is sun and rain 
proof. 

Wear a flannel shirt and take one extra one. 
You can wash one and wear the other. Be sure to 



72 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

have a new shirt plenty loose in the neck as camp 
washing in cold water will make it shrink. Do not 
go around in gymnasium shirts or sleeveless jerseys. 
One of my companions did this once and was so 
terribly sunburned that his whole trip was spoiled. 

Two sets of underwear are plenty, including the 
one you wear. 

Take along a silk handkerchief to wear around 
your neck. 

Wear comfortable shoes. A camping trip is a 
poor place to break in new hunting boots or shoes. 

Take bandanna handkerchiefs and leave your 
linen ones at home. 

If you have to choose between a coat and a sweater 
t^e the sweater and leave the coat at home. A 
coat is out of place in the woods. i 

Khaki or canvas trousers are excellent. So are 
corduroy. An old pair of woollen trousers are just 
as good as either. 

A poncho is almost necessary to your comfort. 
It is merely a rubber or oilskin piece with a slit in 
it to put your head through. The right size is 
66 X 90 inches. With it you can keep dry day or 
night, either using it as a garment or as a cover. 
When you are not using it you can cover it over your 
bed or food supply. 



CAMPS AND CAMPING 73 

Take along a good pocket knife and compass. 
Better leave the revolver home. Also always carry 
a waterproof box of matches. 

You will require some kind of a waterproof " duflBe " 
bag to carry your personal things — tooth brush, 
extra clothing, mirror, fishing tackle, towel, soap, 
medicine, in fact whatever you think you will need. 
If it is your first camping trip you will come home 
without having had any use whatever for more than 
half the things you take. That is the experience of 
every one, so do not become discouraged. 

If you camp within reach of a post-office, address 
some stamped envelopes to your home in ink before 
you leave. Then you will have no excuse for not 
writing a letter home. 

You can make an excellent pillow by rolling up 
your trousers. Be sure to take everything out of 
the pockets first, including your knife, and roll 
them with the top inside so that the buttons or your 
belt buckle will not bore into your ear. 

If you fall overboard and come ashore to dry 
out, stuflF your shoes full of dry grass or old paper to 
keep them from shrinking. When they are dry, 
soften them with tallow or oil. Every one who goes 
camping at some time or other gets wet. The only 
advice I can give you is to get dry again as soon 



74 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

as possible. As long as you keep moving it will 
probably not injure you. Waterproof garments 
are of little use in the woods. They are always 
too warm for summer wear and by holding the 
perspiration, are more of an injury than a benefit. 

Never wear rubber boots in the woods or you 
will surely take cold. Better have wet feet. The 
best foot wear is moccasins. If you wear them 
see that they are several sizes too large and wear 
at least two pairs of heavy woollen stockings with 
them. 



IV 

CAMP COOKING 

How to make the camp fire range — Bread bakers — Cooking 
utensils — The grub list — Simple camp recipes 

MOST boys, and I regret to say a few girls too, 
nowadays, seem to regard a knowledge 
of cooking as something to be ashamed of. 
The boy who expects to do much camping or who 
ever expects to take care of himself out in the woods 
had better get this idea out of his head just as soon 
as possible. Cooking in a modern kitchen has been 
reduced to a science, but the boy or man who can 
prepare a good meal with little but nature's store- 
house to draw on and who can make an oven that 
will bake bread that is fit to eat, with the nearest 
range fifty miles away, has learned something that 
his mother or sister cannot do and something that 
he should be very proud of. Camp cooking is an 
art and to become an expert is the principal thing 
in woodcraft — nothing else is so important. 

We often hear how good the things taste that 
have been cooked over the camp fire. Perhaps a 

75 



76 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

good healthy appetite has something to do with it, 
but it is pretty hard even for a hungry boy to rehsh 
half-baked, soggy bread or biscuits that are more 
suitable for fishing sinkers than for human food. 
A party without a good cook is usually ready to 
break camp long before the time is up, and they are 
lucky if the doctor is not called in as soon as they 
get home. 

There is really no need for poor food in the woods. 
Very few woodsmen are good cooks simply because 
they will not learn. The camp cook always has the 
best fun. Every one is ready to wait on him ''if 
he will only, please get dinner ready." 

One year when I was camping at the head of 
Moosehead Lake in Maine, I had a guide to whom 
I paid three dollars a day. He cooked and I got 
the firewood, cleaned the fish and did the chores 
around camp. His cooking was so poor that the 
food I was forced to eat was really spoiling my trip. 
One day I suggested that we take turns cooking, and 
in place of the black muddy coffee, greasy fish and 
soggy biscuit, I made some Johnny cake, boiled a 
little rice and raisins and baked a fish for a change 
instead of frying it. His turn to cook never came 
again. He suggested himself that he would be 
woodchopper and scullion and let me do the cooking. 



CAMP COOKING 77 

I readily agreed and found that it was only half as 
much work as being the handy man. 

The basis of camp cooking is the fire. It is the 
surest way to tell whether the cook knows his busi- 
ness or not. The beginner always starts with a 
fire hot enough to roast an ox and just before he 
begins cooking piles on more wood. Then when 
everything is sizzling and red-hot, including the 
handles of all his cooking utensils, he is ready to 
begin the preparation of the meal. A cloud of 
smoke follows him around the fire with every shift 
of the wind. Occasionally he will rush in through 
the smoke to turn the meat or stir the porridge and 
rush out again puffing and gasping for breath, 
his eyes watery and blinded and his fingers scorched 
almost like a fireman coming out of a burning 
building where he has gone to rescue some child. 
The chances are, if this kind of a cook takes hold of 
the handle of a hot frying pan, pan and contents 
will be dumped in a heap into the fire to further add 
to the smoke and blaze. 

When the old hand begins to cook, he first takes 
out of the fire the unburned pieces and blazing sticks, 
leaving a bed of glowing coals to which he can easily 
add a little wood, if the fire gets low and a watched 
pot refuses to boil to his satisfaction. When the 



78 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

fire is simply a mass of red coals he quietly goes to 
cooking, and if his fire has been well made and of 
the right kind of wood, the embers will continue 
to glow and give out heat for an hour. 

Of course, if the cooking consists in boiling water 
for some purpose, there is no particular objection 




A type of camp fire that will bum all night 

to a hot fire, the fire above described is for broiling, 
frying and working around generally. 

There are all sorts of camp fireplaces. The 
quickest one to build and one of the best as well, 
is the "hunter's fire." All you need is an axe. 
Take two green logs about six to eight inches thick 
and five feet long and lay them six inches apart at 
one end and about fourteen inches at the other. Be 



CAMP COOKING 79 

sure that the logs are straight. It is a good plan 
to flatten the surface slightly on one side with the 
axe to furnish a better resting place for the pots and 
pans. If the logs roll or seem insecure, make a 
shallow trench to hold them or wedge them with 
flat stones. The surest way to hold them in place 
is to drive stakes at each end. Build your fire 
between the logs and build up a cob house of fire- 
wood. Split wood will burn much more quickly 
than round sticks. As the blazing embers fall 
between the logs, keep adding more wood. Do 
not get the fire outside of the logs. The object is 
to get a bed of glowing coals between them. When 
you are ready to begin cooking, take out the smoky, 
burning pieces and leave a bed of red-hot coals. 
If you have no axe and can find no logs, a somewhat 
similar fireplace can be built up of flat stones, but 
be sure that your stone fireplace will not topple 
over just at the critical time. 

If you only have your jack-knife, the best fire is 
a "Gypsy Rig." Cut two crotched sticks, drive 
them into the ground and lay a crosspiece on them 
just as you would begin to build the leanto described 
in the preceding chapter, but of course not so high 
above the ground. The kettles and pots can be 
hung from the crossbar by means of pot hooks, 



80 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

which are pieces of wood or wire shaped Kke a letter 
"S." Even straight sticks will do with two nails 
driven into them. These should be of different 
lengths to adjust the pots at various heights above 
the fire, depending on whether you wish to boil 
something furiously or merely to let it simmer. Do 
not suspend the kettles by running the bar through 
them. This is very amateurish. With a gypsy 
fire, the frying pan, coffee pot and gridiron will 
have to be set right on the bed of coals. 

An arrangement for camp fires that is better and 
less work than the logs is obtained by using fire 
irons, which are two flat pieces of iron a yard or so 
long resting on stones and with the fire built un- 
derneath. 

The whole object of either logs or irons is to furnish 
a secure resting place for cooking utensils above the 
fire. 

There are several kinds of ovens used for baking 
bread and roasting meat in outdoor life. The 
simplest way is to prop a frying pan up in front of 
the fire. This is not the best way but you will 
have to do it if you are travelling light. A reflector, 
when made of sheet iron or aluminum is the best 
camp oven. Tin is not so satisfactory because 
it will not reflect the heat equally. Both the top 



CAMP COOKING 81 

and bottom of the reflector oven are on a slope and 
midway between is a steel baking pan held in place 
by grooves. This 
oven can be moved 
about at will to regu- 
late the amount of 
heat and furthermore 
it can be used in front 
of a blazing fire with- 
out waiting for a bed / 
of coals. Such a rig 
can easily be made 




A reflector camp oven 



by any tinsmith. A very convenient folding reflec- 
tor oven can be bought in aluminum for three 
or four dollars. When not used for baking, it 
makes an excellent dishpan. 

The standard camp oven that has been used by 
generations of pioneers and campers is the Dutch 
oven. It is simply an iron pot on short legs and is 
provided with a heavy cover. To use it, dig a hole 
in the ground large enough to hold it, build a fire 
and fill the hole with embers. Then scoop out a 
place for the pot, cover it over with more embers 
and ashes and let the contents bake. 

For the boy who wants to go to the limit in de- 
pending on his own resources, the clay oven is the 



82 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

nearest to real woodcraft. This is made in the side 
of a bank by burrowing out a hole, with a smoke 
outlet in the rear. A hot fire built inside will bake 
the clay and hold it together. To use this oven, 
build a fire in it and when the oven is hot, rake 
out the coals and put in your bread or meat on flat 
stones. Close the opening with another stone and 
keep it closed long enough to give the oven a chance. 
This method is not recommended to beginners who 
are obliged to eat what they cook, but in the hands 
of a real cook, will give splendid results. The re- 
flector oven is the best for most cases if you can carry 
it conveniently. 

The kind of a cooking equipment that we take 
with us on a camping trip will depend on what we 
can carry conveniently, how much we are willing 
to rough it and what our stock of provisions will 
be. One thing is sure — the things that we borrow 
from home will rarely be fit to return. In making 
a raid on the family kitchen, better warn the folks 
that they are giving us the pots and pans instead 
of merely lending them. Very compact cooking 
outfits can be bought if one cares to go to the expense. 
An aluminum cook kit for four people, so made that 
the various articles nest one into the other, can be 
bought for fifteen dollars. It weighs only ten pounds 



CAMP COOKING 83 

and takes up a space of 10 x 12 inches. Such a kit 
is very convenient if we move camp frequently or 
have to carry our outfit with us, but for the party 
of boys going out by team it is not worth the ex- 
pense. You will need several tin pails, two iron 
pots, a miner's coffee pot — all in one piece in- 
cluding the lip — two frying pans, possibly a double 
boiler for oatmeal and other cooked cereals, iron 
spoon, large knife, vegetable knife, iron fork and 
broiler. A number of odds and ends will come 
in handy, especially tin plates to put things on. 
Take no crockery or glassware. It will be sure to 
be broken. Do not forget a can opener. 

Camp fire utensils should never be soldered. 
Either seamless ware or riveted joints are the only 
safe kind. Solder is sure to melt over a hot open 
fire. 

The personal equipment for each boy should be 
tin cup, knife, fork, and spoons, deep tin plate, 
extra plate and perhaps one extra set of everything 
for company if they should happen to drop in. A 
lot of dish washing can be avoided if we use paper 
or wooden plates and burn them up after the meal. 

The main question is "What shall we take to 
eat." A list of food or as it is commonly known 
"the grub list" is a subject that will have to be de- 



84 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

cided by the party themselves. I will give you a 
list that will keep four hungry boys from staying 
hungry for a trip of two weeks and leave something 
over to bring home. If the list does not suit you 
exactly you can substitute or add other things. It 
is an excellent plan for the party to take a few home 
cooked things to get started on, a piece of roasted 
meat, a dish of baked beans, some crullers, cookies 
or ginger snaps. We must also consider whether 
we shall get any fish or game. If fishing is good, the 
amount of meat we take can be greatly cut down. 

This list has been calculated to supply a party 
who are willing to eat camp fare and who do not 
expect to be able to buy bread, milk, eggs or butter. 
If you can get these things nearby, then camping 
is but little different from eating at home. 

GRUB LIST 

Ten lbs. bacon, half a ham, 4 cans corned beef, 
2 lbs. cheese, 3 lbs. lard, 8 cans condensed milk, 8 
lbs. hard tack, 10 packages soda crackers, 6 packages 
sweet crackers, 123/^ lbs. of wheat flour, 123^ lbs. 
of yellow cornmeal, can baking powder, J^ bushel 
potatoes, 1 peck onions, 3 lbs. ground coffee, Y^ lb. 
tea, sack salt, 7 lbs. granulated sugar, 3 packages 
prepared griddle cake flour, 4 packages assorted 



CAMP COOKING 85 

cereals, including oatmeal, 4 lbs. rice, dried fruits, 
canned corn, peas, beans, canned baked beans, 
salmon, tomatoes, sweetmeats and whatever else 
you like. 

Be sure to take along plenty of tin boxes or tight 
wooden boxes to keep rain and vermin away from 
the food. Tell your grocer to pack the stufif for 
a camping trip and to put the perishable things in 
tight boxes as far as possible. 

If you are going to move camp, have some water- 
proof bags for the flour. If you can carry eggs and 
butter, so much the better. A tin cracker box 
buried in the mud along some cold brook or spring 
makes an excellent camper's refrigerator especially 
if it is in the shade. Never leave the food exposed 
around camp. As soon as the cook is through with 
it let some one put it away in its proper place where 
the flies, ants, birds, sun, dust, and rain cannot 
get at it. 

Always examine food before you cook it. Take 
nothing for granted. Once when camping the camp 
cook for breakfast made a huge pot of a certain 
brand of breakfast food. We were all tucking it 
away as only hungry boys can, when some one 
complained that caterpillars were dropping from 
the tree into his bowl. We shifted our seats — and 



86 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

ate some more, and then made the astonishing 
discovery that the breakfast food was full of worms. 
We looked at the package and found that the grocers 
had palmed off some stale goods on us and that the 
box was fairly alive. We all enjoy the recollection 
of it more than we did the actual experience. 

It is impossible in a book of this kind to say very 
much about how to cook. That subject alone has 
filled some very large books. We can learn some 
things at home provided that we can duplicate the 
conditions in the woods. So many home recipes 
contain eggs, milk and butter that they are not 
much use when we have none of the three. There 
is a book in my library entitled "One Hundred 
Ways to Cook Eggs" but it would not do a boy 
much good in the woods unless he had the eggs. 
If you ask your mother or the cook to tell you how to 
raise bread or make pies and cakes, be sure that you 
will have the same ingredients and tools to work 
with that she has. 

It might be well to learn a few simple things about 
frying and boiling, as both of these things can be 
done even by a beginner over the camp fire. There 
are a few general cooking rules that I will attempt 
to give you and leave the rest for you to learn from 
experience. 



CAMP COOKING 87 

You use bacon in the woods to furnish grease 
in the frying pan for the things that are not fat 
enough themselves to furnish their own grease. 

Condensed milk if thinned with water makes a good 
substitute for sweet milk, after you get used to it. 

To make coffee, allow a tablespoonful of ground 
coffee to each cup of water. Better measure both 
things until you learn just how full of water to fill 
the pot to satisfy the wants of your party. Do 
not boil coffee furiously. The best way is not to 
boil it at all but that would be almost like telling 
a boy not to go swimming. Better let it simmer 
and when you are ready for it, pour in a dash of 
cold water to settle the grounds and see that no 
one shakes the pot afterward to stir up grounds — 
and trouble. 

A teaspoonful of tea is enough for two people. 
This you must not boil unless you want to tan your 
stomach. Pour boiling water on the tea and let 
it steep. 

Good camp bread can be made from white flour, 
one cup; salt, one teaspoonful; sugar, one tea- 
spoonful and baking powder, one teaspoonful. 
Wet with water or better with diluted condensed 
milk. Pour in a greased pan and bake in the re- 
flector oven until when you test it by sticking a 



88 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

wooden splinter into it, the splinter will come out 
clean without any dough adhering to it. 

If you want to make the kind of bread that has 
been the standard ration for campers for hundreds 
of years you must eat johnny-cake or pone. It is 
really plain corn bread. Personally I like it better 
than any of the raised breads or prepared flours that 
are used in the woods. It should always be eaten 
hot and always broken by the hands. To cut it 
with a knife will make it heavy. The ingredients 
are simply one quart of yellow meal, one teaspoonful 
of salt and three cups — one and one-half pints — of 
warm water. Stir until the batter is light and bake 
for a short hour. Test it with the wooden splinter 
the same as wheat bread. It may be baked in an 
open fire on a piece of flat wood or by rolling up 
balls of it, you can even roast it in the ashes. A 
teaspoonful of sugar improves it somewhat and it 
can be converted into cake by adding raisins or 
huckleberries. For your butter, you will use bacon 
grease or gravy. 

Indian meal, next to bacon, is the camper's stand-by. 
In addition to the johnny-cake, you can boil it up 
as mush and eat with syrup or condensed milk and 
by slicing up the cold mush, if there is any left, 
you can fry it next day in a spider. 



CAMP COOKING 89 

The beginner at cooking always makes the mistake 
of thinking that to cook properly you must cook 
fast. The more the grease sputters or the harder 
the pot boils, the better. As a rule, rapid boiling 
of meat makes it tough. Game and fish should be 
put on in cold water and after the water has boiled, 
be set back and allowed to simmer. Do not throw 
away the water you boil meat in. It will make 
good soup — unless every one in camp has taken a 
hand at salting the meat, as is often the case. 

All green vegetables should be crisp and firm 
when they are cooked. If they have been around 
camp for several days and have lost their freshness, 
first soak them in cold water. A piece of pork 
cooked with beans and peas will give them a richer 
flavour. The water that is on canned vegetables 
should be poured off before cooking. Canned 
tomatoes are an exception to this rule, however. 

Save all the leftovers. If you do not know what 
else to do with them, make a stew or soup. You 
can make soup of almost anything. The Chinese 
use birds' nests and the Eskimos can make soup of 
old shoes. A very palatable soup can be made from 
various kinds of vegetables with a few bones or 
extract of beef added for body. 

The length of time to cook things is the most 



90 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

troublesome thing to the beginner. Nearly every- 
thing will take longer than you think. Oatmeal is 
one of the things that every beginner is apt to burn, 
hence the value of the double boiler. 

Rice is one of the best camp foods if well cooked. 
It can be used in a great variety of ways like corn- 
meal. But beware! There is nothing in the whole 
list of human food that has quite the swelling power 
of rice. Half a teacupful will soon swell up to fill 
the pot. A tablespoonful to a person will be an 
ample allowance and then, unless you have a good 
size pot to boil it in, have some one standing by 
ready with an extra pan to catch the surplus when 
it begins to swell. 

There are certain general rules for cooking which 
may help the beginner although they are not abso- 
lute. 

Mutton, beef, lamb, venison, chicken, and large 
birds or fish will require from ten to twenty minutes' 
cooking for each pound of weight. The principal 
value of this is to at least be sure that you need not 
test a five-pound chicken after it has been cooking 
fifteen minutes to see if it is done. 

Peas, beans, potatoes, corn, onions, rice, turnips, 
beets, cabbage, and macaroni should, when boiled, 
be done in from twenty to thirty minutes. The 



CAMP COOKING 91 

surest test is to taste them. They will be burned 
in that many seconds, if you allow the water to 
boil oflF or put them in the middle of a smoky fire 
where they cannot be watched. 

Fried things are the easiest to cook because you 
can tell when they are done more easily. Fried 
food however is always objectionable and as little 
of it should be eaten as possible. You are not 
much of a camp cook if a frying pan is your only 
tool. 

A bottle of catsup or some pickles will often give 
just the right taste to things that otherwise seem 
to be lacking in flavour. 

In frying fish, always have the pan piping hot. 
Test the grease by dropping in a bread crumb. It 
should quickly turn brown. * 'Piping hot" does not 
mean smoking or grease on fire. Dry the fish 
thoroughly with a towel before putting them into 
the pan. Then they will be crisp and flaky instead 
of grease-soaked. The same rule is true of potatoes. 
If you put the latter on brown butcher's paper 
when they are done, they will be greatly improved. 

Nearly every camper will start to do things away 
from home that he would never think of doing under 
his own roof. One of these is to drink great quanti- 
ties of strong coffee three times a day. If you find 



92 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

that after you turn in for the night, you are lying 
awake for a long time watching the stars and listen- 
ing to the fish splashing in the lake or the hoot owl 
mournfully "too-hooing" far off in the woods, 
do not blame your bed or commence to wonder if 
you are not getting sick. Just cut out the coffee, 
that's all. 



WOODCRAFT 

The use of an axe and hatchet — Best woods for special pur- 
poses — What to do when you are lost — Nature's compasses 

THE word "woodcraft" simply means skill 
in anything which pertains to the woods. 
The boy who can read and understand 
nature's signboards, who knows the names of the 
various trees and can tell which are best adapted 
to certain purposes, what berries and roots are 
edible, the habits of game and the best way to trap 
or capture them, in short the boy that knows how 
to get along without the conveniei^ces of civilization 
and is self-reliant and manly, is a student of wood- 
craft. No one can hope to become a master woods- 
man. What he learns in one section may be of 
little value in some other part of the country. 

A guide from Maine or Canada might be compara- 
tively helpless in Florida or the Tropics, where the 
vegetation, wild animal life, and customs of the 
woods are entirely different. Most of us are hope- 
less tenderfeet anywhere, just like landlubbers on 
shipboard. The real masters of woodcraft — In- 



94 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

dians, trappers, and guides — are, as a rule, men who 
do not even know the meaning of the word "wood- 
craft." 

Some people think that to know woodcraft, we 
must take it up with a teacher, just as we might 
learn to play golf or tennis. It is quite different 
from learning a game. Most of what we learn, 
we shall have to teach ourselves. Of course we 
must profit from the experience and observation 
of others, but no man's opinion can take the place 
of the evidence of our own eyes. A naturalist once 
told me that chipmunks never climb trees. I have 
seen a chipmunk on a tree so I know that he is 
mistaken. As a rule the natives in any section only 
know enough woods-lore or natural history to meet 
their absolute needs. Accurate observation is, as 
a rule, rare among country people unless they are 
obliged to learn from necessity. Plenty of boys 
born and raised in the country are ignorant of the 
very simplest facts of their daily experience. They 
could not give you the names of a dozen local birds 
or wildflowers or tell you the difference between a 
mushroom and a toadstool to save their lives. 

On the other hand, some country boys who have kept 
their ears and eyes open will know more about the wild 
life of the woods than people who attempt to write 



WOODCRAFT 95 

books about it ; myself, for example. I have a boy friend 
up in Maine who can fell a tree as big around as his 
body in ten minutes, and 
furthermore he can drop 
it in any direction that he 
wants to without leaving 
it hanging up in the 
branches of some other 
tree or dropping it in a 
soft place where the log- 
ging team cannot pos- 
sibly haul it out without 
miring the horses. The 
stump will be almost as 
clean and flat as a saw- 
cut. This boy can also 
build a log cabin, chink 
up the cracks with clay 
and moss and furnish it 
with benches and tables that he has made, with no 
other tools than an axe and a jackknife. He can make 
a rope out of a grape-vine or patch a hole in his birch 
bark canoe with a piece of bark and a little spruce 
gum. He can take you out in the woods and go 
for miles with never a thought of getting lost, tell 
you the names of the different birds and their calls. 




The wilderness traveller 



96 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

what berries are good to eat, where the partridge 
nests or the moose feeds, and so on. If you could 
go around with him for a month, you would learn 
more real woodcraft than books could tell you in a life- 
time. And this boy cannot even read or write and 
probably never heard the word "woodcraft." His 
school has been the school of hard knocks. He 
knows these things as a matter of course just as 
you know your way home from school. His father 
is a woodchopper and has taught him to take care 
of himself. 

If you desire to become a good woodsman, the 
first and most important thing is to learn to use 
an axe. Patent folding hatchets are well enough 
in their way, but for real woodchopping an axe 
is the only thing. One of four pounds is about the 
right weight for a beginner. As it comes from the 
store, the edge will be far too thick and clumsy to 
do good work. First have it carefully ground by 
an expert and watch how he does it. 

If I were a country boy I should be more proud 
of skilful axemanship than to be pitcher on the 
village nine. With a good axe, a good rifle, and a 
good knife, a man can take care of himself in the 
woods for days, and the axe is more important even 
than the rifle. 



WOODCRAFT 97 

The easiest way to learn to be an axeman is to 
make the acquaintance of some woodchopper in 
your neighbourhood. But let me warn you. Never 
ask him to lend you his axe. You would not be 
friends very long if you did. You must have one 
of your own, and let it be like your watch or your 
toothbrush, your own personal property. 

A cheap axe is poor economy. The brightest 
paint and the gaudiest labels do not always mean 
the best steel. Your friend the woodchopper will 
tell you what kind to buy in your neighbourhood. 
The handle should be straight-grained hickory 
and before buying it you will run your eye along 
it to see that the helve is not warped or twisted and 
that there are no knots or bad places in it. The 
hang of an axe is the way the handle or helve is 
fitted to the head. An expert woodchopper is 
rarely satisfied with the heft of an axe as it comes 
from the store. He prefers to hang his own. In 
fact, most woodchoppers prefer to make their own 
axe handles. 

You will need a stone to keep a keen edge on the 
axe. No one can do good work with a dull blade, 
and an edge that has been nicked by chopping 
into the ground or hitting a stone is absolutely 
inexcusable. 



98 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

To chop a tree, first be sure that the owner is 
wiUing to have it chopped. Then decide in which 
direction you wish it to fall. This will be deter- 
mined by the kind of ground, closeness of other trees, 
and the presence of brush or undergrowth. When 
a tree has fallen the woodchopper's work has only 
begun. He must chop off the branches, cut and 
split the main trunk, and either make sawlogs or 
cordwood lengths. Hence the importance of ob- 
taining a good lie for the tree. 

Before beginning to chop the tree, cut away all 
the brush, vines, and undergrowth around its butt as 
far as you will swing the axe. This is very important 
as many of the accidents with an axe result from 
neglect of this precaution. As we swing the axe 
it may catch on a bush or branch over our head, 
which causes a glancing blow and a possible acci- 
dent. Be careful not to dull the axe in cutting 
brush. You can often do more damage to its edge 
with undergrowth no thicker than one's finger than 
in chopping a tree a foot through. If the brush 
is very light, it will often be better to use your 
jack-knife. 

In cutting a tree, first make two nicks or notches 
in the bark on the side to which you wish it to fall 
and as far apart as half the diameter of the tree. 



WOODCRAFT 




Then begin to swing the axe slowly and without 

trying to bury its head at every blow and prying it 

loose again, but with regular 

strokes first across the grain at 

the bottom and then in a slant- 
ing direction at the top. The 

size of the chips you make will 

be a measure of your degree of 

skill. Hold the handle rather 

loosely and keep your eye on 

the place you wish to hit and 

not on the axe. Do not work 

around the tree or girdle it but 
keep right at 

the notch you are making until 
it is half way through the tree. 
Do not shift your feet at every 
blow or rise up on your toes. 
This would tire even an old 
woodchopper in a short time. 
See that you do not set yourself 
too fast a pace at first. A be- 
ginner always starts with too 
small a notch. See to it that 
yours is wide enough in the start. 
When you have cut about half way through, go 



The right way to chop a 

tree — make two notches 

on opposite sides 




fSjh 



ri-xw 



The wrong way 
looks like the work of 
a beaver 



this 



100 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

to the other side of the tree and start another notch 
a Kttle higher than the first one. A skilled man can 
chop either right- or left-handed but this is very 
difficult for a beginner. If you are naturally right- 
handed, the quickest way to learn left-handed wood 
chopping is to to study your usual position and note 
where you naturally place your feet and hands. 
Then reverse all this and keep at it from the left- 
handed position until it becomes second nature to 
you and you can chop equally well from either posi- 
tion. This you may learn in a week or you may 
never learn it. It is a lot easier to write about than 
it is to do. 

When the tree begins to creak and show signs 
of toppling over, give it a few sharp blows and 
as it falls jump sideways. Never jump or run back- 
ward. This is one way that men get killed in the 
woods. A falling tree will often kick backward 
like a shot. It will rarely go far to either side. Of 
course a falling tree is a source of danger anyway, 
so you must always be on your guard. 

If you wish to cut the fallen tree into logs, for 
a cabin, for instance, you will often have to jump 
on top of it and cut between your feet. This re- 
quires skill and for that reason I place a knowledge 
of axemanship ahead of anything else in woodcraft 



WOODCRAFT 101 

except cooking. With a crosscut saw, we can make 
better looking logs and with less work. 

Next to knowing how to chop a tree is knowing 
what kind of a tree to chop. Different varieties 
possess entirely different qualities. The amateur 
woodchopper will note a great difference between 
chopping a second growth chestnut and a tough 
old apple tree. We must learn that some trees, like 
oak, sugar maple, dogwood, ash, cherry, walnut, 
beech, and elm are very hard and that most of the 
evergreens are soft, such as spruce, pine, arbor 
vitse, as well as the poplars and birches. It is easy 
to remember that lignum vitse is one of the hardest 
woods and arbor vitse one of the softest. Some 
woods, like cedar, chestnut, white birch, ash, and 
white oak, are easy to split, and wild cherry, sugar 
maple, hemlock, and sycamore are all but unsplitable. 
We decide the kind of a tree to cut by the use to 
which it is to be put. For the bottom course of a 
log cabin, we place logs like cedar, chestnut, or white 
oak because we know that they do not rot quickly 
in contact with the ground. We always try to get 
straight logs because we know that it is all but im- 
possible to build a log house of twisted or crooked 
ones. 

It is a very common custom for beginners to make 



102 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

camp furniture, posts, and fences of white birch. 
This is due to the fact that the wood is easily worked 
and gives us very pretty effects. Birch however 
is not at all durable and if we expect to use our 
camp for more than one season we must expect to 
replace the birch every year or two. Rustic furni- 
ture made of cedar will last for years and is far 
superior to birch. 

Getting lost in the woods may be a very serious 
thing. If you are a city boy used to signboards, 
street corners, and familiar buildings you may laugh 
at the country boy who is afraid to go to a big city 
because he may get lost, but he knows what being 
lost means at home and he fails to realize when he 
is in a city how easy it is to ask the nearest police- 
man or passer-by the way home. Most city boys 
will be lost in the woods within five minutes after 
they leave their camp or tent. If you have no con- 
fidence in yourself and if you are in a wilderness 
like the North woods, do not venture very far from 
home alone until you are more expert. 

It is difficult to say when we are really lost in the 
woods. As long as we think we know the way home 
we are not lost even if we may be absolutely wrong 
in our opinion of the proper direction.. In such a 
ease we may soon find our mistake and get on the 



WOODCRAFT 103 

right track again. When we are really lost is when 
suddenly a haunting fear comes over us that we do not 
know the way home. Then we lose our heads as well 
as our way and often become like crazy people. 

A sense of direction is a gift or instinct. It is 
the thing that enables a carrier pigeon that has been 
taken, shut up in a basket say from New York to 
Chicago, to make a few circles in the air when 
liberated and start out for home, and by this sense 
to fly a thousand miles without a single familiar 
landmark to guide him and finally land at his home 
loft tired and hungry. 

No human being ever had this power to the same 
extent as a pigeon, but some people seem to keep a 
sense of direction and a knowledge of the points 
of compass in a strange place without really making 
an effort to do it. One thing is sure. If we are 
travelling in a strange country we must always 
keep our eyes and ears open if we expect to find 
our way alone. We must never trust too implicitly 
in any ''sense of direction/' 

Forest travellers are always on the lookout for 
peculiar landmarks that they will recognize if they 
see them again. Oddly shaped trees, rocks, or 
stumps, the direction of watercourses and trails, 
the position of the sun, all these things will help 



104 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

us to find our way out of the woods when a less 
observing traveller who simply tries to remember 
the direction he has travelled may become terrified. 

Rules which tell people what to do when they are 
lost are rarely of much use, because the act of losing 
our way brings with it such a confusion of mind 
that it would be like printing directions for terror 
stricken people who are drowning. 

Suppose, for example, a boy goes camping for 
a week or two in the Adirondacks or Maine woods. 
If he expects to go about alone, his first step should 
be to become familiar with the general lay of the 
land, the direction of cities, towns, settlements, 
mountain ranges, lakes, and rivers in the section 
where he is going, and especially with the location 
of other camps, railroads, lumber camps, and so 
on in his immediate neighbourhood, say within a 
five-mile radius. It is an excellent plan to take 
along a sectional map which can usually be bought 
of the state geologist. One can by asking questions 
also learn many things from the natives. 

Such a boy may start out from his camp, which 
is on the shore of a lake, for example, on an after- 
noon's fishing or hunting trip. If he is careful he 
will always consult his compass to keep in mind 
the general direction in which he travels. He will 



WOODCRAFT 105 

also tell his friends at camp where he expects to go. 
If he has no compass, he at least knows that the 
sun rises in the east and sets in the west and he can 
easily remember whether he has travelled toward 
the setting sun or away from it. Rules for telling 
the points of compass by the thickness of the bark 
or moss on trees are well enough for story books. 
They are not of much value to a man lost in the 
woods. 

Suddenly, say at four o'clock, this boy decides 
to "turn around" and go back to camp. And then 
the awful feeling comes to him that he doesn't 
know which way to turn. The woods take on a 
strange and unfamiliar look. He is lost. The 
harder he tries to decide which way the camp lies, 
the worse his confusion becomes. If he would only 
collect his thoughts and like the Indian say "Ugh! 
Indian not lost, Indian here. Wigwam lost," he 
probably would soon get his bearings. It is one 
thing to lose your way and another to lose your 
head. 

When you are lost, you are confused, and the 
only rule to remember is to sit down on the nearest 
rock or stump and wait until you get over being 
"rattled." Then ask yourself, "How far have I 
gone since I was not sure of my way?" and also, 



106 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

"How far am I from camp?" If you have been 
out three hours and have walked pretty steadily, 
you may have gone five miles. Unless you have 
travelled in a straight line and at a rapid pace, the 
chances are that you are not more than half that 
distance. But even two or three miles in strange 
woods is a long distance. You may at least be sure 
that you must not expect to find camp by rushing 
about here and there for ten minutes. 

We have all heard how lost people will travel 
in circles and keep passing the same place time after 
time without knowing it. This is true and many 
explanations have been attempted. One man says 
that we naturally take longer steps with our right 
leg because it is the stronger; another thinks that 
our heart has something to do with it, and so on. 
Why we do this no one really knows, but it seems 
to be a fact. Therefore, before a lost person starts 
to hunt for camp, he should blaze a tree that he can 
see from any direction. Blazing simply means 
cutting the bark and stripping it on all four sides. 
If you have no hatchet a knife will do, but be sure 
to make a blaze that will show at some distance, 
not only for your own benefit but to guide a search- 
ing party that may come out to look for you. You 
can mark an arrow to point the direction that you 



WOODCRAFT 107 

are going, or if you have pencil and notebook even 
leave a note for your friends telling them your 
predicament. This may all seem unnecessary at 
the time but if you are really lost, nothing is unnec- 
essary that will help you to find yourself. 

As you go along give an occasional whack at a 
tree with your hatchet to mark the bark or bend 
over the twigs and underbrush in the direction of 
your course. The thicker the undergrowth the 
more blaze marks you must make. Haste is not 
so important as caution. You may go a number of 
miles and at the end be deeper in the woods than 
ever, but your friends who are looking for you, if 
they can run across one of your blazes, will soon 
find you. 

When you are certain that you will not be able 
to find your way out before dark, there is not much 
use of going any farther. The thing to do then is 
to stop and prepare for passing the night in the 
woods while it is still daylight. Go up on the highest 
point of ground, build a leanto and make your camp- 
fire. If you have no matches, you can sometimes 
start a fire by striking your knife blade with a piece 
of flint or quartz, a hard white stone that is common 
nearly everywhere. The sparks should fall in some 
dry tinder or punk and the little fire coaxed along 



108 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

until you get a blaze. There are many kinds of 
tinder used in the woods, dried puff balls, "dotey" 
or rotten wood that is not damp, charred cotton 
cloth, dry moss, and so on. In the pitch pine country, 
the best kindlings after we have caught a tiny 
blaze are splinters taken from the heart of a decayed 
pine log. They are full of resin and will burn like 
fireworks. The Southerners call it "light-wood." 

Dry birch bark also makes excellent kindlings. 
A universal signal of distress in the woods that is 
almost like the flag upside down on shipboard is 
to build two smoky fires a hundred yards or more 
apart. One fire means a camp, two fires means 
trouble. 

Another signal is two gunshots fired quickly, a 
pause to count ten and then a third. Always listen 
after you have given this signal to see if it is an- 
swered. Give your friends time enough to get the 
gun loaded at camp. Always have a signal code 
arranged and understood by your party before you 
attempt to go it alone. You may never need it but 
if you do you will need it badly. 

Sometimes we can get our bearings by climbing 
a tree. Another aid to determine our direction is 
this: Usually all the brooks and water courses 
near a large lake or river flow into it. If you are 



WOODCRAFT 109 

sure that you haven't crossed a ridge or divide, 
the surest way back home if camp is on a lake is to 
follow down the first brook or spring you come 
across. It will probably bring you up at the lake, 
sooner or later. 

On a clear night you can tell the points of compass 
from the stars. Whether a boy or girl is a camper 
or not, they surely ought to know how to do this. 
Have some one point out to you the constellation 
called the "dipper." It is very conspicuous and 
when you have once learned to know it you will 
always recognize it as an old friend. The value 
of the dipper is this: The two stars that form the 
lower corners of its imaginary bowl are sometimes 
called the "north star pointers." The north star 
or Polaris, because of its position with reference 
to the earth, never seems to move. If you draw 
an imaginary line through the two pointers up into 
the heavens, the first bright star you come to, which 
is just a little to the right of this line, is the north 
star. It is not very bright or conspicuous like 
Venus or Mars but it has pointed the north to 
sailors over the uncharted seas for hundreds of 
years. By all means make the acquaintance of 
Polaris. 



VI 

THE USE OF FIRE-ARMS 

Importance of early training — Why a gun is better than a 
rifle — How to become a good shot 

WHETHER a boy of fifteen should have a 
gun or a rifle is a question that parents 
will have to settle for themselves. There 
is no question but that a careful boy who has been 
taught by some older person how to handle a gun 
is more to be trusted than a man who has never 
learned the proper use of fire-arms and who takes 
up the sport of hunting after he is grown up. Most 
of the shooting accidents are caused by inexperi- 
enced men who have never been accustomed to 
guns in their younger days. Once or twice I have 
just missed being shot by friends who had never 
been hunting before, and who became so excited 
when they unexpectedly kicked up a rabbit or 
walked into a flock of quail that they fired the gun 
without knowing whether any of their friends were 
in range or not. When a boy is allowed to have a 
gun it should be a real one. Air rifles and small 

110 



THE USE OF FIRE-ARMS 111 

calibre guns are all the more dangerous, because 
they are often looked upon as toys. 

In handling a gun, always treat it as though 
it were loaded, no matter if you know it is empty. 
By this means it will soon become second nature 
to you never to point the gun at any one even care- 
lessly or in fun. A guide once said to me, "A gun 
is a dangerous critter without lock, stock, or barrel, 




A double barrelled hammerless shot-gun 

and if a feller ever points one at me I think he means 
business." 

A gun can never be trusted. Accidents happen 
so quickly that it is over before we know it and the 
terrible damage is done. Sometimes the trigger 
will catch on a coat button or a twig, and, bang! 
an unexpected discharge takes place and if you were 
careless just for an instant, it may cost some one 
his life. Especial care must be taken in loading 
and unloading a gun. It is at this time that a gun 
is most likely to go off unexpectedly. 

The best way to learn how to handle a gun is to 



112 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

watch the methods of an old hand. Never fire a 
gun when you are standing behind another person. 
You jnay know that you are not aiming at him, but 
the concussion of the air near the end of the barrel 
is terrific, and your friend may have a split ear drum 
as a result. 

A shot-gun is better for a boy than a rifle, for 
the reason that most real shooting except for big 
game is done with a shot-gun, and besides, it takes 
a lot of practice to shoot well with it. A shot-gun 
is not a weapon for play but a real tool. In almost 
every section of the country there is some small 
game to be hunted and there is usually also an op- 
portunity to practise at clay pigeons. 

No one would think of hunting quail, ducks, or 
rabbits with a rifle, and even if you were an excellent 
rifle shot at a still mark you might not be able to 
hit moving game at all. A shot-gun is less danger- 
ous for the reason that its range is limited to a little 
over a hundred yards, while a rifle may carry a 
mile. A cheap shot-gun is far more dangerous 
than a cheap rifle. Until it is possible to buy a 
good one it is better to have none at all. A good 
American-made gun can be bought for about 
twenty-five dollars. A gun suitable for its owner 
should fit just as his clothing fits him. When a 



THE USE OF FIRE-ARMS 113 

gun is quickly brought to the shoulder in firing 
position, there is no time in actual hunting to shift 
it around. When you buy a gun, remember that 
your canvas or corduroy hunting coat makes more 
of a bulge at the shoulder than an ordinary suit 
and accordingly see that the stock is the proper 
length. The "drop" of a gun is the number of 
inches that the stock falls below the line of the 
barrel. If the stock is bent too much you will 
shoot under your game. If it is too straight the 
tendency will be to shoot over game. The average 
stock is made to fit most people and will probably 
answer most purposes unless you can afford to have 
a stock made especially. The principal thing is 
to do all your practising with your own gun until 
it becomes second nature to bring it up quickly and 
have the eye find the barrel instantly. A shot-gun 
is not aimed in the same way as a rifle. The method 
of good shots is rather to keep their eye on the game 
and when they "feel" that the gun is pointed right 
to fire. A skilful shot can tell whether he is shooting 
too high or too low just as he pulls the trigger. The 
brain, head, and eyes and trigger-finger must all work 
in harmony or you will never be a good shot. Never 
flinch as you shoot. This is a very common fault of 
beginners and it is fatal to becoming a marksman. 



114 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

The first lesson in handling a gun is to understand 
perfectly how it works. If it is a hammerless gun, 
remember that it is always cocked. When you open 
the barrels you cock the gun automatically. For 
this reason there is some kind of a safety device 
provided, which should always be left at "safe" 
except at the actual instant of firing. It is just 
as easy to learn to push the safety off when you 
fire as it is to learn to pull the trigger, if one starts 
right. 

Never carry your gun with your finger on the 
trigger. Wait until you put the gun up as you 
are ready to shoot. Don't forget the safety. A 
great many shots are missed because the hunter 
forgets whether he has left it on or oflf and in his 
anxiety to hit the game will tug and pull on the trig- 
ger until, just as the game disappears out of range, 
he will remember that he did not release it. This 
shows the importance of acquiring the proper habit 
at first. 

It is harder to correct bad habits in handling 
a gun than to teach the beginner the proper way at 
first. On your first lesson in the field, walk on the 
left side of your teacher so that your gun will be 
pointing away from him. If you come across any 
game, try to take your time before you fire. Nearly 



THE USE OF FIRE-ARMS 115 

every one shoots too quickly. As most shot-gun 
shooting is what is called snap shooting, there isn't 
much time at best, but a good shot will be sure 
that he has covered his game before he fires, while 
a beginner will trust to luck. This will be the hardest 
fault to correct. Consequently a beginner should 
if possible hunt alone for a while, as the presence of 
another gun alongside of him makes him too anxious 
to get in the first shot, and gets him into bad habits. 

If your teacher also has a gun, he must assure 
you that he does not intend to shoot and then you 
will try harder to get the game and run less chance 
of missing. Always unload a gun before going into 
a house, under or over a fence, or in or out of a boat 
or carriage. If you leave your gun, even for a 
minute, unload it. Never rest a loaded gun against 
a tree or building. Never pull a gun loaded or 
empty toward you by the muzzle. In unloading 
always point it toward the ground. A jar will 
sometimes discharge a gun and very often a dis- 
charge will take place when closing the breech on a 
tight shell. 

Always be ready for game. In hunting, we never 
can tell at what instant it will rise up in front of us. 
"Be ready" does not mean having the muscles 
and nerves constantly on a tension. It is simply 



116 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

to carry your gun in such a position that you can 
quickly bring it to the shoulder at any time. It is 
a good plan to practise aiming at various objects as 
you go along until you gradually overcome your 
awkwardness. 

It is difficult to say what makes a good shot with 
a gun. There is no question but that practice will 
make any one a better shot than he would be without 
it, but some people are better shots with very little 
practice than others with a great deal. One very 
important thing is to do your practising under 
conditions similar to the actual hunting. If the 
cover is thick where you hunt, a swamp or brush 
lot for example, you will not derive much benefit 
from practising entirely in the open. A pigeon 
trap is an inexpensive way to learn to shoot. Some 
experienced hunters will say that practice at clay 
pigeons does not help in the field, but at the same 
time a good brush shot is almost always a good 
trap shot and if you can become skilful enough to 
break an average of eighteen to twenty clay pigeons 
out of twenty-five at sixteen yards rise, you may 
be sure that you will get your share oi game under 
actual hunting conditions. 

The most difficult part of bird hunting is to learn 
to give the game a start. The average shot-gun 



THE USE OF FIRE-AEMS 117 

will kill quail at sixty yards and duck at forty. 
The farther the game is away from us, provided it is 
within range, the more the shot will spread. I 
once saw a half-dozen hunters fire at a covey of 
quail that rose in an open field before they had gone 
thirty yards and every hunter scored a clean miss. 
Any one of these men could bring down his bird 
under the same conditions nine times out of ten if 
he had taken his time. On this occasion when their 
guns were empty another hunter who had w^ithheld 
his fire said, *'Are you all done, boys.^" and shot a 
bird with each barrel at a measured fifty-eight 
yards. To kill a bird that another man has shot 
at is called ''wiping his eye," and it is the chief 
joy of an old hunter to do this with a beginner. 
If you do not want to let the old hunter wipe your 
eye, take your time. 

Learn to shoot with your head well up and with 
both eyes open. When the game rises, keep your 
eye on it and at the instant that you see it on the 
end of your gun barrel, fire. The greatest joy of 
hunting is to see the game appear to tumble off the 
end of your gun barrel when it is hit. If there is a 
doubt as to whose bird it is, and this happens con- 
stantly as two people often shoot at the same time 
at the same bird, do not rush in and claim it. Re- 



118 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

member you are a gentleman, but if you are sure 
that you hit it, at least stand for your rights. 

So much of the pleasure of hunting depends on 
our companions that we must be considerate of the 
feelings of others as well as our own. Always hunt 
if possible with experienced hunters. You will not 
only have more fun, but you will run much less 
risk. In rabbit hunting, one is especially at the 
mercy of the beginner who fires wildly without any 
thought as to whose life he may be endangering, 
so long as he gets the rabbit. If you hunt with 
some one who owns the dogs, be very careful not 
to interfere with them by giving commands. As a 
rule the owner of a well -trained dog prefers to handle 
him without any help, and, while he may not tell 
you, you may be sure that he will resent it if you 
try to make the dog do your bidding when his 
master is around. 

The pattern of a gun, as it is called, is the number 
of shot it will put within a circle at a given distance. 
As a rule the factory test pattern will be found on 
a tag attached to the gun. If not, you can easily 
get the pattern yourself. The usual distance for 
targeting a new gun is thirty yards, and the standard 
circle is thirty inches. Make a circle on the barn 
door with a piece of chalk and string fifteen inches 



THE USE OF FIRE-ARMS 119 

long. First drive a nail into the wood and fasten 
the string to it with the chalk on the loose end. 
Then describe and measure ninety feet from the 
target. Fire as nearly as you can at the centre 
of the circle and count the shot that are inside the 
chalk mark. In order not to count the same shot 
twice mark them off with a pencil. Perhaps a 
surer way would be to fire at the door first and in 
the centre of the load of shot drive the nail and 
describe a circle afterward. The chief advantage 
of studying the pattern of your gun is to know just 
how much it scatters and how far it may be depended 
upon to shoot and kill. 

In a choke-bore gun, the end of the barrel is drawn 
in slightly and made smaller to keep the shot to- 
gether. Guns that are used in duck and goose 
hunting are usually full choked as most of the shots 
are long ones, but for ordinary brush and field 
shooting a gun that has a full cylinder right barrel 
and a modified choke on the left will be the best for 
general purposes. 

The best size is 12-bore or gauge. Ten gauge 
guns are entirely too heavy for general use and the 
smaller bores, such as sixteen or even twenty gauge, 
while they are very light and dainty, are not a 
typical all around gun for a boy who can only afford 



120 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

to have one size. The smaller bores, however, have 
become very popular in recent years and much 
may be said in their favour. 

The standard length of barrels is either twenty- 
eight or thirty inches. The shorter length will 
probably be just as satisfactory and makes a much 
better proportion between the stock and barrels. 
You can easily test the amount of choke in a 12- 
gauge gun. A new ten-cent piece will just go inside 
the end of the barrel of a full cylinder gun and just 
fail to go into one that has been slightly choked. 

While it is impossible to give any written direc- 
tions for shooting that are as valuable as actual 
practice, the important thing for a beginner is to 
get his form right at first, just as in golf or horseback 
riding, and then to make up his mind that every 
shot has got to count. 

Rifle shooting is entirely different from shot-gun 
shooting and skill in one branch of the sport of 
marksmanship does not mean much in the other. 
A boy may be an excellent rifle shot at a stationary 
target and still not be able to hit **a flock of barns," 
as the country boys say, with a shot-gun. Skill 
with a rifle is chiefly of value to those who are in- 
terested in military affairs and more rarely to those 
who are fortunate enough to have an opportunity 



THE USE OF FIRE-ARMS 121 

for hunting big game. In settled communities 
there is a strong feeling against allowing boys to 
have rifles. Practically the only game that can 
be hunted will be our little friends, the song birds, 
and no self-respecting boy will shoot them. A small 
calibre rifle such as a 22-calibre Flobert will afford 
considerable pastime at target practice and is also 
excellent to hunt snakes and frogs along some brook 
or creek, but generally a boy with a rifle is a public 
nuisance, and as a rule is liable to arrest in possessing 
it. If we fix up a rifle range where there are no 
dangers of damage from spent bullets or badly 
aimed shots it is well enough to practise with a 
small rifle. 

A real sporting rifle, such as is used for big game, 
is a very dangerous fire-arm and cannot be used 
with safety anywhere but in an absolute wilderness 
or on a target range. Such guns will kill at a mile 
and go through a tree a foot or two in diameter; to 
use such a weapon in even a sparsely settled section 
is very dangerous indeed. If a boy has any chance 
of going hunting for deer or moose, he will surely 
need practice and for this purpose a range will 
have to be selected where there is absolutely no 
danger to any one within a mile or two. A good 
practice range is across a lake or river with a bank 



122 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

of earth or clay to stop the bullets. Big game 
hunting is done so frequently from canoes that it 
is well to get practice from a boat, both moving and 
stationary. To shoot successfully from a sitting 
position in a canoe is a very difficult feat. Just 
as with a shot-gun the universal tendency is to shoot 
too quickly, with a rifle it is to shoot too high. 
The reason is that we hold our head so high up in 
looking at our game that we fail to see the rear 




Tbe modem sporting rifle that will kill at a mile. An unsafe weapon 
for boys 

sight at all. Be sure your head is low enough to 
see both sights. 

Always hold your breath while you are taking 
aim. Learn to shoot from all sorts of positions, 
lying, sitting, kneeling, and standing. If the shot 
is a long one, be sure that your rear sight is properly 
elevated for the distance. Most of the shots at 
big game are stationary shots and within a hundred 
yards; consequently accuracy counts for more than 
quickness. 

With a magazine or repeating rifle be sure that 



THE USE OF FIRE-ARMS 123 

you have emptied your magazine before you leave 
the gun. With a shot-gun there is a possibihty 
that the "person who didn't know it was loaded" 
may not kill his victim outright. With a sporting 
rifle it is practically sure death. 

The general rules of care apply to both rifles and 
shot-guns. Always clean the gun after you have 
taken it into the field. This is necessary whether 
you have fired the gun or not, as a gun barrel will 
always collect a certain amount of dampness. It 
is an excellent practice to keep a gun covered with 
oil or vaseline except when it is in use. It not only 
prevents rust, but the grease also discourages visitors 
and friends from handling the gun, snapping the 
trigger, or otherwise damaging it. 

In this chapter, I have not said anything about 
revolvers or pistols, because I do not believe that 
any sensible boy will care to own one. A revolver 
is a constant source of danger owing to its short 
barrel, and as it has no practical value except as 
a weapon of defence, and as there is a severe penalty 
for carrying a concealed weapon, I should not care 
to recommend any boy to own a revolver. 

The final question whether we may have a gun 
and what kind it should be, will depend very largely 
on the place we live. Any kind of a gun is very 



124 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

much out of place in cities or towns. The boy who 
does not really have an opportunity to use a gun 
should be too sensible to ask for one, for surely if 
we own it we shall constantly want to use it even 
at some risk. It will be far better to ask for some- 
thing we can use and leave the gun question until 
the time when we have a real opportunity. 

Finally we must remember that the one who has 
the gun in his possession is rarely the one that is 
accidentally shot. We should therefore avoid com- 
panions who do own guns and who are careless with 
them. No amount of care on our part will prevent 
some careless boy friend from risking our lives. 
The safer way is to stay home. 



VII 

FISHING 

Proper tackle for all purposes — How to catch bait — The fly 
fisherman — General fishing rules 

FISHING is one sport of boyhood that we 
never outgrow our love for. Some of the 
most enthusiastic fishermen are gray-haired 
men. We often hear about the boy with the bent 
pin and the piece of thread who catches more fish 
than the expert fisherman with modern, up-to-date 
tackle, but I doubt if it is so. As a rule the better 
our tackle the more fish we shall catch. If the coun- 
try boy catches the most fish, it is simply because 
he is better acquainted with the places where the 
fish hide or feed. He knows their habits better and 
the best kind of bait to use. A lover of fishing 
should take a personal interest in his equipment 
and should desire to have the best he can afford. 

The chief requirement of a successful fisherman is 
patience. Next to that is a knowledge of the waters 
fished in and the habits of the fish and how to attract 
them. A man or a boy who will sit all day in the 

125 



126 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

hot sun waiting for a bite is not always a good 

fisherman. He must use common sense as well as 

patience. 

A game fish may be defined as one that will make 
a good fight for its life and that is caught by scientific 
methods of angling. Almost any fish will struggle 
to escape the hook, but generally by game fish we 
understand that in fresh water the salmon, bass, or 
trout family is referred to. Pickerel and pike are 
also game fish, but in some sections they are consid- 
ered undesirable because they rarely rise to the fly, 
which is the most scientific method of fishing. 

A fisherman who is a real sportsman always uses 
tackle as light as he can with safety and still have 
a chance of landing the fish. If the angler will 
take his time he can, with skill, tire out and land fish 
of almost any size. Tunas and tarpon weighing 
over a hundred pounds are caught with a line that 
is but little thicker than a grocer's twine, and even 
sharks and jewfish weighing over five hundred 
pounds have been caught in the same way. Some- 
times the fight will last all day, and then it is a 
question whether the fisherman or the fish will be 
exhausted first. 

In selecting our tackle, we must always keep in 
mind the kind of fish we expect to catch. For 



FISHING 127 

general, fresh-water use, except fly easting, an eight- 
foot rod weighing seven or eight ounces will fill most 
purposes. A fly rod should be a foot longer and at 
least two ounces lighter. The best rods are made 
of split bamboo, but cheap rods of this material are 
not worth having. The best cheap rods (i.e., costing 
five dollars or less) are either lancewood or steel. 
See that your rod has "standing guides" and not 
movable rings. Most of the wear comes on the tip, 
therefore it should if possible be agate lined. A 
soft metal tip will have a groove worn in it in a very 
short time which will cut the line. The poorest 
ferrules are nickel-plated. The best ones are either 
German silver or brass. To care for a rod properly, 
we must keep the windings varnished to prevent 
them from becoming unwound. Spar varnish is 
the best for this purpose but shellac will answer. 
In taking a rod apart, never twist it. Give a sharp 
pull, and if it refuses to budge, it can sometimes be 
loosened by slightly heating the ferrule with a candle. 
If a ferrule is kept clean inside, and if the rod is taken 
apart frequently, there is no reason why it should stick. 
A multipying reel holding sixty yards is large 
enough for most fishing. The raised pillar reels are 
the best, one of good quality costing about four 
dollars. A cheap reel soon goes to pieces. 



ns OUTDOOR SPORTS 

Silk lines are better than linen because greater 
strength is obtained with the same thickness. Al- 
ways dry a line every time it is used, or it will soon 
rot and be worthless. The back of a chair is excel- 
lent for this purpose. Never tie a knot in a line 
that you expect to use with rod and reel. The knot 
will always catch in one of the guides just at the time 
when you are landing your "biggest" fish. 

Hooks come in a great variety of shapes and 




Actual sizes of hooks 



models but there are none better than the standard 
"Sproat." It is the general favourite of fishermen 
everywhere, although of course the other leading 



FISHING no 

models, Carlisle, Limerick, Pennell, Aberdeen, Sneck 
and a number of others all have their friends. 

A great many fishermen make the mistake of 
using hooks that are too large. The hook sizes 
that are commonly used are numbered from 6/0, 
which is the largest, to No. 12, which is a tiny thing 
about right to catch minnows. Where we expect 
to catch fish a pound or two in weight, the No. 1 
size is about right. Such a hook will catch much 
larger fish if they happen to come along. I have 
caught a twelve-pound lake trout on a No. 4 Sproat 
hook and the hook did not show that it had bent in 
the least. 

Our tackle box should contain an assortment of 
sizes however. Snelled hooks are better than ringed 
hooks and those of blued steel better than black 
enamel. No matter how inexpensive the rest of the 
equipment is, be sure that your hooks are of good 
quality. Keep the points sharp. A tiny bit of oil stone, 
a file, or a piece of emery cloth are all good for this 
purpose. It takes a sharp point to penetrate the 
bony jaw of a fish. Always inspect your hook after 
you have caught it on a rock or snag. 

Fishing is generally divided into four classes: 
fly casting, bait casting, trolling, and still fishing. 
The average boy is a still fisherman, which means 



130 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

not only that he must keep still, but that his bait 
remains in one place instead of being trolled or cast 
about. The usual strings of fish that boys catch, 
such as perch, sunfish, bullheads, catfish, and white- 
fish, are called pan fish. This is not entirely a 
correct name as I have seen some catfish that it 
would take a pretty big pan to hold. One caught in 
the Mississippi River weighed over a hundred pounds. 

Fly casting is the most scientific method of fishing 
and gives the greatest pleasure to the fisherman 
after he has once become an expert. No matter 
what method we follow in fishing, we must never 
try to catch fish by any method which the laws may 
prohibit, such as spearing, set lines, or nets. Each 
state has its own laws which the fisherman must 
learn and obey. 

Worms are the best all around bait for fishing. 
They are as a rule easily obtained and may be kept 
for a long time. The boy's method of placing them 
in a tin can with a mixture of mud will soon kill 
them, however, especially if the worms are exposed 
to the sun for a time. A half -buried soap box makes 
a very good place to keep a supply of worms which 
will be ready for use at any time without the neces- 
sity of digging them. Worms may be fed on the 
white of a hard-boiled egg, but if given plenty of 



FISHING 131 

room they will usually find enough food in the soil. 
By placing worms in sand they will soon scour and 
turn pink when they are far more attractive as bait. 
The large worms, or "night walkers," can be caught 
at night with a lantern. These large worms are 
best obtained after a rain or on lawns that are sprin- 
kled frequently, when they will be found moving about 
on top of the ground but always with one end in the 
hole from which they have emerged and into which 
they can dart if they are disturbed. 

For big fish, the best bait is minnows. In trolling 
with them it will make but little difference whether 
dead or alive, but for still fishing the minnows must 
not only be alive, but, to attract the fish, lively as well. 
The regulation minnow bucket consists of one pail 
fitted inside of another, the inner one being made 
of wire mesh to permit the free circulation of the 
water. This enables us to change the water fre- 
quently without handling the fish. When we reach 
a place where fresh water is obtainable, we simply 
remove the inner pail, pour out the stale water from 
the other pail, and fill it as quickly as possible. 
To keep bait alive in warm weather we must change 
the water frequently. Another method where fresh 
water is not available, as on a long drive, is to aerate 
it by pouring from one pail to another. It is an 



132 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

excellent plan to place a piece of ice on top of the 
minnow pail. With this arrangement, it will not 
be necessary to give them fresh water for a long time. 
The simplest way to catch minnows is with a drop 
net. Take an iron ring or hoop such as children 




An excellent device for catching minnows 

use and sew to it a bag of cotton mosquito netting, 
half as deep as the diameter of the ring. Sew a 
weight in the bottom of the net to make it sink 



PISHING m 

readily and fasten it to a pole. When we reach the 
place which the minnows frequent, such as the cove 
of a lake, we must proceed very cautiously, lowering 
the net into the water and then baiting it with bits 
of bread or meat, a very little at a time, until we see 
a school of bait darting here and there over the net. 
We must then give a quick lift without any hesita- 
tion and try to catch as many as possible from escap- 
ing over the sides. The minnow bucket should 
be close at hand to transfer them to and care must 
be used not to injure them or allow them to scale 
themselves in their efforts to escape. The common 
method of capturing minnows is to use a sweep net, 
but it takes several people to handle one properly 
and for our own use the drop net method will prob- 
ably supply us with all the bait that we 
need. 

Fish are very fickle in their tastes. 
What will be good bait one day will 
absolutely fail the next and sometimes 
even in an hour this same thing will take 
place. Why this is so no one has been 
able to explain satisfactorily, but that it 
is a fact no fisherman will deny. We 
should therefore have as great a variety 
of bait in our equipment as possible. Atrolli^spoon 




134 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

Worms, crawfish, minnows, frogs, grasshoppers, 
grubs and helgramites are all good at times in fresh 
water, as well as various kinds of artificial baits, 
spoons, spinners, and rubber lures. 

Sometimes fish will take very unusual baits. 
Black bass have been caught on young bats. The 
famous old trout in the Beaverkill River in New 
York State, which had refused all the ordinary baits 
and flies that were offered him for years and that 
on bright days could be seen in a pool lying deep 
down in the water, finally fell a victim to a young 
mouse that was tied to the hook with pink silk. 

Fly fishing is the most expert and scientific method 
of angling. It is the poetry of fishing. The fly 
fisherman usually wades in the brook or stream where 
he is fishing, although it is sometimes possible to 
cast a fly from the bank or a boat. It is useless 
to go fly fishing while there is snow water in the 
brooks but just as soon as the first warm days of 
spring come, then fishing is at its best. 

The whole idea of casting a fly is to drop it in the 
most likely-looking places and to strike the fish 
just as soon as he seizes the hook. To do 
this we must always have the line under perfect 
control, therefore do not attempt to cast a line too 
great a distance. If we do not fix the hook into the 



FISHING 135 

fish's mouth at the instant that he seizes the fly, 
he will very soon find that what he thought was a 
nice fat bug or juicy caterpillar is nothing but a bit 
of wool and some feathers with a sting in its tail, 
and he will spit it out before we can recover our 
slack line. 

It is a common mistake to use flies that are too 
large. Ordinary trout flies are the proper size for 
bass and the smallest size trout flies are plenty 
large enough for trout. There are hundreds of 
kinds of flies of various combinations of colours and 
no one can say which is the best. This question 
has been argued by fishermen ever since the days 
of Izaak Walton. 

The universal rule of trout and bass fishermen 
who use a fly is to select small dark flies for bright 
days or when the water is very clear or low and the 
more brightly coloured ones when the day is dark or 
the water dark or turbid. The fly book should 
contain a varied assortment to meet these conditions. 

The best lines for fly fishing are made of braided 
enamelled silk. Some fly lines are tapered but this 
is not necessary and is a needless expense. Twisted 
lines are much cheaper but very unsatisfactory. 

Fly fishing is not only the most scientific and 
sportsmanlike method of fishing but it is also the 



136 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

most difficult to acquire skill in. It is of course 
possible to catch trout and salmon on other bait 
than flies. In fact, there is really no better bait 
for brook trout than common fish worms that have 
been scoured in sand. The use of a fly, however, 
is more satisfactory where the pleasure derived in 
fishing is more important than the size of the string. 




An artificial fly; used for salmon 

In learning to cast a fly, you can practise at home, 
either in an open space or wherever there is room to 
work the line. It is not necessary to practise with 
the actual hooks or flies on the line. Simply tie 
a knot in it. Hold the rod lightly but firmly in 
the right hand. Point your thumb along the line 
of the rod and start by pulling out a little line from 
the reel with the left hand. With a steady sweep, 
cast the end of the line toward some near-by object 
and with each cast pull out a little more line until you 



FISHING 137 

reach a point when you are handling all the line you 
can take care of without effort or without too much 
of a sweep on the back cast. You must not allow 
the line to become entangled in trees or other ob- 
stacles. The wrist does most of the work in casting. 
The elbow should be close to the side. If you find 
that the line snaps like a whip on the back cast, it 
is because you start the forward cast before the line 
straightens out behind. 

When you can handle twenty-five or thirty feet 
accurately, you can safely get ready to go fishing. 
The most successful fly fishermen use a short line, 
but they use it with the utmost accuracy and can 
make the flies land within a foot of the place they 
are aiming at almost every time. When a trout 
strikes your fly, you must snub him quickly or he 
will surely get away. If the flies you are using do 
not cause the fish to rise, and if you are certain 
that it is not due to your lack of skill, it will be well 
to change to some other combination of colours; 
but give your first selection a fair trial. 

Bait casting is much easier than fly casting as 
the weight of the bait will help to carry out the line. 
It is the common method of fishing with minnows, 
frogs, small spoons and spinners, and other artificial 
lures. Some fishermen practise the method of allow- 



1S8 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

ing the line to run from the reel. The principal point 
in this way of fishing is to stop the reel by using the 
thumb as a brake at the instant that the bait strikes 
the water. This prevents the reel from spinning 
and causing the line to overrun. Neglect of this 
precaution will cause a very annoying tangle that 
is sometimes call a ''backlash" but more often 
characterized by much harsher^ names by the 
impatient fisherman who has the misfortune to ex- 
perience it. 

In live bait casting, start with the line reeled to 
within fifteen inches of the end of the rod, holding 
the thumb on the reel spool. With a rather strong 
overhead sweep, bring the rod forward. At the 
proper instant, which is just as the point of the rod 
goes over your head, release the pressure of your 
thimib and the bait will go forward as the line runs 
out rapidly. When the bait lands, reel in slowly and 
with various motions try to give to the bait as 
life-like an appearance as possible. If you have a 
strike, allow the fish sufiicient time to obtain a 
secure hold of the bait and by a sudden jerk fix the 
hook in his mouth. 

Bait casting is as a rule a very effective method 
of catching fish, especially in shallow lakes and where 
fly fishing is not practised. In deep water, trolling 



FISHING 139 

or still fishing are usually the best methods of catch- 
ing fish and often the only methods that will be 
successful. Trolling consists simply in rowing or pad- 
dling slowly with the bait or spoon trailing behind. 
It is not a scientific way of fishing and requires but 
little skill. When the fish strikes, it usually hooks 
itself and all that re- 
mains is to reel it in- 
to the boat and land 
it. The conditions on 
large lakes often make 
it necessary to follow 
one of these methods 
of trolling or still 
fishing, especially dur- 
ing the warm weather when the big fish have left the 
spawning grounds and are in deep water. There are 
trolling devices called spinners that have several 
gangs of hooks, sometimes as many as fifteen. No real 
fisherman would use such a murderous arrangement 
which gives the fish practically no chance at all 
and in many states their use is properly prohibited 
by law. A single hook, or at most a single gang 
of three hooks, is all that any one should ever use. 

Every boy knows what still fishing is. It is the 
common method of baiting our hook, casting it 




A raised pillar multiplying reel 



140 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

from the shore or from a boat and waiting for a bite. 
In still fishing it is customary to use a light sinker 
to keep the bait near the bottom and a float or 
"cork" which serves the double purpose of keeping 
the bait away from snags, stones, or weeds on the 
bottom and also of showing us when we have a bite. 
The more expert still fishermen never use a float, 
as they prefer to tell by the pull on the line when a 
fish has taken the bait. 

A fishing boat should be thoroughly seaworthy 
and also have plenty of room. Flat-bottom boats 
make the best type for fishing, provided that we do 
not have to row them far or if the place where we 
use them is not subject to sudden squalls or rough 
water. The middle seat should contain both a 
fish well and a minnow box with a dividing partition 
and with two hinged lids fitted into the seat. Such 
a boat can be built by an ordinary carpenter and 
should not cost over ten or twelve dollars. It should 
be painted every year to keep it in good condition. 
Use clear white pine or cedar for the sides. The 
bottom boards should not be fitted tightly together 
but left with cracks fully a half -inch wide to allow 
for the swelling of the wood when the boat is 
launched. The best oarlocks are fastened to the oars 
and fit in the sockets with a long pin. This arrange- 



FISHING 141 

ment permits one to fish alone, and if trolling to 
drop the oars quickly and take up the rod without 
danger of losing them. 

A landing net should be a part of every fishing 
outfit. More fish are lost just as they are about to 
be lifted from the water than at any other time. 
A gaff is used for this same purpose with fish too 




A landing net should be a part of every fisherman's outfit 

large to go into a landing net. A gaff is a large hook 
without a barb fastened into a short pole. If you 
have no net or gaff and have succeeded in bringing 
a large fish up alongside the boat, try to reach under 
him and get a firm grip in his gills before you lift 
him on board. If it is a pickerel, look out for his 
needle-like teeth. 

The best time to fish is either in the early morning 



142 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

or just before sundown. During the heated part 
of the day most game fish stop feeding and seek the 
cool, deep places in the lake or river. 

In many states, fishing is prohibited by law until 
after the fish are through the spawning season. 

In all kinds of fishing, the rule is to keep as quiet as 
possible. Talking does not make so much difference, 
but any sudden noises in the water or on the 
bottom of the boat are especially likely to frighten 
the fish. 

Never fish in your own shadow or that of your 
boat. Try to have the sun in front of you or at 
your side. 

Never be in a hurry to land a big fish. Remember 
that some of the so-called "big game fish" of the 
ocean will take all day to land. You must use 
skill to tire your fish out or by keeping his gills open 
to drown him. The rod and line are not intended 
as a lever to force the fish to the landing net but 
merely as a guide to lead him about and by his 
struggles to force him to become exhausted. A very 
interesting experiment has demonstrated that a 
skilful fisherman can with a fly rod and light line 
in a very short time tire out a strong swimmer 
to which the line has been attached and force him 
to give up the struggle and come to the side of a boat. 



FISHING 143 

Methods of fishing diflfer so much in different 
localities that aside from the ordinary equipment 
of rods, reels, lines, leaders, and hooks, the fisherman 
going to a new locality had better first ascertain 
what the general methods of fishing are, or else, 
if possible, secure his equipment after he reaches his 
fishing grounds. 



VIII 

NATURE STUDY 

What is a true naturalist? — How to start a collection — Moth 
collecting — The Herbarium 

THERE is nothing in the world that will 
bring more pleasure into the life of a boy 
or girl than to cultivate a love for nature. 
It is one of the joys of life that is as free as the air 
we breathe. A nature student need never be lonely 
or at a loss for friends or companions. The birds 
and the bugs are his acquaintances. Whenever he 
goes afield there is something new or interesting to 
see and to observe. He finds — 

" tongues in trees, books in the running brooks. Sermons 

in stones and good in everything/' 

To love nature and her mysteries does not neces- 
sarily mean to be some kind of a queer creature 
running around with a butterfly net or an insect 
box. A true naturalist is simply a man or boy who 
keeps his eyes and ears open. He will soon find that 
nature is ready to tell him many secrets. After a 
time, the smell of the woods, the chirp of a cricket 

144) 



NATURE STUDY 145 

and the rustling of the wind in the pines become his 
pleasures. 

The reason that people do not as a rule know more 
about nature is simply because their minds are too 
full of other things. They fail to cultivate the power 
.of accurate observation, which is the most important 
thing of all. A practical start in nature study is 
to go out some dewy morning and study the first 
spider web you come across, noting how wonderfully 
this little creature makes a net to catch its food 
just as we make nets to catch fish, how the web 
is braced with tiny guy ropes to keep the wind 
from blowing it away in a way similar to the method 
an engineer would use in securing a derrick or a tall 
chimney. When a fly or bug happens to become 
entangled in its meshes, the spider will dart out 
quickly from its hiding place and if the fly is making 
a violent struggle for life will soon spin a ribbon-like 
web around it which will hold it secure, just as we 
might attempt to secure a prisoner or wild animal 
that was trying to make its escape, by binding it 
with ropes. A spider makes a very interesting pet 
and the surest way to overcome the fear that many 
people have of spiders is to know more about them. 

There is no need to read big books or listen to 
dry lectures to study nature. In any square 



146 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

foot that you may pick out at random in your lawn 
you will find something interesting if you will look 
for it. Some tiny bug will be crawling around in 
its little world, not aimlessly but with some definite 
purpose in view. To this insect the blades of grass 
are almost like mighty trees and the imprint of 
your heel in the ground may seem like a valley be- 
tween mountains. To get an adequate idea of the 
myriads of insects that people the fields, we should 
select a summer day just as the sun is about to set. 
The reflection of its waning rays on their wings will 
show countless thousands of flying creatures in 
places where, if we did not take the trouble to ob- 
serve, we might think there were none. 

There is one very important side to nature that 
must not be overlooked. It consists in knowing 
that we shall find a thousand things that we cannot 
explain to one that we fully understand. Educa- 
tion of any kind consists more in knowing when to 
say "I don't know and no one else knows either" 
than to attempt a foolish explanation of an unex- 
plainable thing. 

If you ask " why a cat has whiskers," or why and 
how they make a purring noise when they are pleased 
and wag their tails when they are angry, while a dog 
wags his to show pleasure, the wisest man cannot 



NATURE STUDY 147 

answer your question. A teacher once asked a boy 
about a cat's whiskers and he said they were to keep 
her from trying to get her body through a hole 
that would not admit her head without touching her 
whiskers. 

No one can explain satisfactorily why the sap runs 
up in a tree and by some chemical process carries 
from the earth the right elements to make leaves, 
blossoms or fruit. Nature study is not "why.^^" 
It is "how." We all learn in everyday life how a 
hen will take care of a brood of chicks or how a 
bee will go from blossom to blossom to sip honey. 
Would it not also be interesting to see how a little 
bug the size of a pin head will burrow into the stem 
of an oak leaf and how the tree will grow a house 
around him that will be totally unlike the rest of 
the branches or leaves. That is an ''oak gall." 
If you carefully cut a green one open you will jBnd 
the bug in the centre or in the case of a dried one 
that we often find on the ground, we can see the tiny 
hole where he has crawled out. 

Did you ever know that some kinds of ants will 
wage war on other kinds and make slaves of the 
prisoners just as our ancestors did in the olden times 
with human beings.^ Did you ever see a play-ground 
where the ants have their recreation just as we have 



148 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

ball fields and dancing halls? Did you ever hear of 
a colony of ants keeping a cow? It is a well-known 
fact that they do, and they will take their cow out 
to pasture and bring it in and milk it and then lock 
it up for the night just as you might do if you were 
a farm boy. The "ants' cow" is a species of insect 
called "aphis" that secretes from its food a sweet 
kind of fluid called "honey dew." 

The ten thousand things that we can learn in 
nature could no more be covered in a chapter in 
this book than the same space could cover a history 
of the world. I have two large books devoted to the 
discussion of a single kind of flower, the "orchid." 
It is estimated that there are about two hundred 
thousand kinds of flowers, so for this subject alone, 
we should need a bookshelf over a mile long. This 
is not stated to discourage any one for of course 
no one can learn all there is to know about any sub- 
ject. Most people are content not to learn any- 
thing or even see anything that is not a part of their 
daily life. 

The only kind of nature study worth while is 
systematic. It is not safe to trust too much to the 
memory. Keep a diary and record in it even the 
most simple things for future reference. All sorts 
of items can be written in such a book. As it is 



NATURE STUDY 149 

your own personal affair, you need not try to make 
it a work of literary merit. Have entries such as these : 

First frost — Oct. 3rd therefore ground-hog saw his 

First snow — 3 inches Thanks- shadow 

giving day Heard crows cawing — Feb. 18th. 

Skating — December 3rd Last year — Jan . 26th 

Weather clear and bright on Saw first robin — March 14th 

Candlemas day, Feb . 2nd and Last snow — April 28th 

There is scarcely anything in nature that is not 
interesting and in some way useful. Perhaps you 
will say "How about a bat.^" x4lS a matter of fact a 
bat is one of our best friends because he will spend 
the whole night catching mosquitoes. But some 
one will say " he flies into your hair and is covered 
with a certain kind of disgusting vermin." Did 
you ever know of a bat flying into any one's hair.^^ 
And as for the vermin science tells us that they are 
really his favourite food so it is unlikely that he 
would harbour a colony of them very long. 

The subject of snakes is one in which there is more 
misinformation than any other common thing. 
There are only three venomous kinds of snakes in 
America. They are the rattlesnake, copperhead 
and moccasin. All of them can be distinguished 
by a deep pit behind the eye, which gives them the 
name of "pit vipers." The general impression 
that puff adders, pilots, green snakes or water 



150 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

snakes are poisonous is absolutely wrong, and 
as for hoop snakes and the snake with a sting in 
his tail that all boys have heard about, they are 
absolutely fairy tales like "Jack and the Bean Stalk " 
or "Alice in Wonderland." We have all heard 
about black snakes eight or ten feet long that will 
chase you and wind themselves around your neck, 
but of the many hundreds of black snakes that a well 
known naturalist has seen he states that he never 
saw one that did not do its best to escape if given 
half a chance. Why so much misinformation 
about snakes exists is a mystery. 

Nature study has recently been introduced into 
schools and it is a very excellent way to have the 
interesting things pointed out to us until our eyes 
are trained to see for ourselves. The usual methods 
of nature study may be roughly divided into, 1. 
Keeping pets. 2. Bird study. 3. Insect study. 
4. Systematic study of flowers and plants. 5. Wild 
animal life. The basis of nature study consists 
in making collections. A collection that we have 
made for ourselves of moths or flowers, for instance, 
is far more interesting than a stamp or coin collection 
where we buy our specimens. If we go afield and 
collect for ourselves, the cost is practically nothing and 
we have the benefit of being in the air and sunshine. 



NATURE STUDY 151 

One kind of collecting is absolutely wrong — that 
of birds' eggs, nests or even the birds themselves. 
Our little feathered songsters are too few now and 
most states have very severe penalties for killing 
or molesting them. A nature student must not be 
a lawbreaker. 

The outfit for a butterfly or moth collection is 
very simple and inexpensive. We shall need an 
insect net to capture our specimens. This can be 
made at home from a piece of stiff wire bent into the 
shape of a flattened circle about a foot across. 
Fasten the ring securely to a broom 
handle and make a cheesecloth net 
the same diameter as the ring and 
about two feet deep. 

It is very cruel to run a pin through 
insects and to allow them slowly to 
torture to death. An insect killer 
that is generally used is called ''the 
cyanide bottle." Its principle in- 
gredient, cyanide of potassium is a ^he cyanide bottle 

harmless looking white powder but it is the most 
deadly poison in the world. Unless a boy or girl 
knows fully its terrible danger, they should never 
touch it or even breathe its fumes. One of 
your parents or the druggist should prepare the 




152 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

cyanide bottle for you and as long as you do not 
look into the bottle to watch the struggles of a dying 
bug or in any way get any of the contents of the 
bottle on your fingers, you are safe. 

Take a wide-mouthed bottle made of clear glass 
and fit a cork or rubber stopper to it. Then wash 
the bottle thoroughly and dry it, finally polishing 
the inside with a piece of soft cloth or tissue paper. 
Place one ounce of cyanide of potassium into the 
bottle and pour in enough dry sawdust to cover the 
lumps of poison. Then wet some plaster of paris 
until it is the consistency of thick cream and quickly 
pour it over the sawdust, taking care that it does 
not run down the sides or splash against the bottle. 
Place the bottle on a level table and very soon the 
plaster of paris will set and harden into a solid cake. 

Sufiicient fumes from the cyanide will come up 
through the plaster to poison the air in the bottle 
and to kill any living thing that attempts to breathe 
it. As you capture your specimens of moths, bugs 
or butterflies afield you place them into the bottle, 
and as soon as they are dead, you remove them; 
fold them carefully in stiff paper and store them in 
a paper box or a carrying case until you get home. 
They should then be mounted on boards or cork 
sheets, labelled carefully with the name of the speci- 



NATURE STUDY 153 

men, date and place of capture and any other facts 
that you may wish to keep. 

Considerable skill is required to mount insects 
properly and in a life-like position. If they are out 
of shape you must "spread" them before they dry 




How insects are spread to dry them in a natural position 

out. Spreading consists in holding them in the prop- 
er position by means of tiny bits of glass and pins 
until they are dry. 

As moths are, as a rule, night-flying creatures 
the collector will either obtain them in a larval 
stage, or will adopt the method of "sugaring," one 
of the most fascinating branches of nature study. 
A favourable locality is selected, a comparatively 
open space in preference to a dense growth, and 
several trees are baited or sugared to attract the 
moths when in search of food. The sugar or bait 
is made as follows: Take four pounds of dark 



154 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

brown sugar, one quart of molasses, a bottle of stale 
ale or beer, four ounces of Santa Cruz rum. Mix 
and heat gradually. After it is cooked for five 
minutes allow it to cool and place in Mason jars. 
The bait will be about the the consistency of 
thick varnish. 

Just before twilight the bait should be painted 
on a dozen or more trees with a strip about three 
inches wide and three feet long. You will need 
a bull's-eye lantern or bicycle lamp and after dark, 
make the rounds of your bait and cautiously flash 
the light on the baited tree. If you see a moth 
feeding there, carefully bring the cyanide bottle 
up and drop him into it. Under no circumstances, 
clap the bottle over the specimen. If you do the 
neck of the bottle will become smeared with the 
bait and the moth would be daubed over and ruined. 
You will soon have all the specimens that you can 
care for at one time and will be ready to go home and 
take care of them. 

The moths are among the most beautiful creatures 
in nature and a reasonably complete collection of 
the specimens in your neighbourhood will be some- 
thing to be proud of. 

The plant and flower collector should combine 
his field work with a study of botany. Like most 




,h b> 1 . W. btack 



The Moth Collector and His Outfit 



NATURE STUDY 155 

subjects in school books, botany may seem dry and 
uninteresting but when we learn it for some definite 
purpose such as knowing the wild flowers and 
calling them our friends, we must accept the few 
strange words and dry things in the school work 
as a little bitter that goes with a great deal of 
sweet. 

A collection of dried plants is called an herbarium. 
It is customary to take the entire plant as a specimen 
including the roots. Separate specimens of buds, 
leaves, flowers and fruit taken at different seasons 
of the year will make the collection more complete. 
Specimens should be first pressed or flattened be- 
tween sheets of blotting paper and then mounted 
on sheets of white paper either by glue or by strips 
of gummed paper. 

After a flower is properly identified, these sheets 
should be carefully numbered and labelled and a 
record kept in a book so that we can readily find 
a specimen without unnecessarily handling the 
specimen sheets. The sheets should be kept in 
heavy envelopes of manila paper and placed in a 
box just the size to hold them. The standard 
or museum size of herbarium sheets is llj/^ x 165^^ 
inches. Specimens of seaweed or leaves can be 
kept in blank books. 



156 



OUTDOOR SPORTS 



A typical label for plants or flowers should be as 
follows : 



Common names 


Yellow adder's tongue 
Dog tooth violet 


Date collected. May 16th, 1908 


Botanical name 


Erythronium Americanum 


Remarks: John Burroughs 


Family 


Lilies 


suggests that the name 


Where found 


Rockaway Valley near 


be changed either to 




Beaver Brook 


fawn lily because its 
leaves look like a spot- 
ted fawn or trout lily 
because they always 
appear at trout fishing 



A boy or girl living in a section where minerals 
are plentiful, can make a very interesting collection 
of stones and mineral substances, especially crystals. 
This should be taken up in connection with school 
work in chemistry and mineralogy. To determine 
the names of minerals is by no means as easy 
as that of flowers or animals. We shall need 
to understand something of blow-pipe analysis. 
As a rule a high school pupil can receive a great deal 
of valuable instruction and aid from one of his 
teachers in this work. Mineral specimens should 
be mounted on small blocks or spindles using sealing 
wax to hold them in place. 

There are unlimited possibilities in nature for 
making collections. Shells, mosses, ferns, leaves, 
grasses, seeds, are all interesting and of value. An 



NATURE STUDY 157 

observation beehive with a glass front which may be 
darkened will show us the wonderful intelligence of 
these little creatures. The true spirit of nature 
study is to learn as much as we can of her in all of 
her branches, not to make a specialty of one thing 
to the neglect of the rest and above all not to make 
work of anything. 

We see some new side to our most common things 
when we once learn to look for it. Not one person 
in ten thousand knows that bean vines and morning 
glories will twine around a pole to the right while 
hop vines and honeysuckle will go to the left and yet 
who is there who has not seen these common vines 
hundreds of times? 

No one can give as an excuse that he is too busy 
to study nature. The busiest men in national 
affairs have had time for it and surely we with our 
little responsibilities and cares can do so too. I once 
went fishing with a clergyman and I noticed that he 
stood for a long time looking at a pure white water 
lily with beautiful fragrance that grew from the 
blackest and most uninviting looking mud that one 
could find. The next Sunday he used this as an 
illustration for his text. How many of us ever saw 
the possibility of a sermon in this common everyday 
sight? 



IX 

WATER LIFE 

The water telescope — ^How to manage an aquarium — Our insect 
friends and enemies — The observation beehive 



rr^ 



^ HE eggs of so many insects, toads, frogs and 
other interesting creatures are laid and 
hatched in water that a close study of 
pools, brooks and small bodies of water will disclose 
to the nature student some wonderful stories of 
animal life. To obtain water specimens for our 
collection, we shall need a net somewhat similar 
to the butterfly net described in the previous chapter 
but with a much stronger frame. 

One that I have used for several years was made 
by the village blacksmith. The ring or hoop is of 
quarter-inch round iron, securely fastened to a stout 
handle and bent to a shape as shown in the drawing. 
To this ring is fastened a regular landing net such 
as fishermen use, with an extra bag of cheesecloth 
to fit inside to capture insects too small to be held 
by the meshes of the outside net. For frogs, turtles, 
and minnows, the single net is all that is necessary. 

158 



WATER LIFE 



159 



This device is almost strong enough to use as a 
shovel. It will scoop up a netful of mud without 
bending. This is important as muddy ditches and 
sluggish ponds will yield us more specimens than 
swiftly running brooks. In addition to the net, 
the collector will require 
a small pail to hold his 
trophies. A fisherman's 
minnow bucket is excel- 
lent for this purpose and 
the water can easily be 
freshened and the con- 
tents of the pail reached 
by simply lifting out 
the inside pail from the 
water, which will drain 
out. 

To study the animal 
life under the surface of 
a clear and shallow lake, 
a water telescope is a great aid. It is simply a 
wooden box a foot or so long and open at both 
ends. The inside should be painted black to pre- 
vent cross reflection of light. A square of clear 
glass should be fitted into one end and puttied tight 
to keep out the water. To use the water telescope. 




A heavy net is useful to capture 
aquarium specimens 



160 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

we simply shove the glass end under water and 
look into the box. A cloth hood or eye piece to 
keep out the outside light will make it more effec- 
tive. The best way to use a water telescope 
is to lie in the bottom of a boat which is drifting 
about, and to look through the telescope over 
the side. As you study the marvellous animal 
and plant life that passes along under you like a 
panorama, see to it that in your excitement you 
do not fall overboard as a boy friend of mine once did. 

The care of an aquarium is a never ending source 
of interest to the nature student. If a boy is handy 
with tools he can build one himself. It is by no 
means an easy task however to make a satisfactory 
water-tight box with glass sides, and my advice is 
not to attempt it. Glass aquaria may be bought 
so cheaply that it is doubtful if you can save any 
money by making one at home. If you care to 
try it, this is the way it is usually done: 

Use a piece of seasoned white wood 1}4 inches 
thick for the bottom. If you wish your aquarium 
to be, say, 16 inches wide and 30 inches long, this 
bottom board should be 20 x 34 to give a margin at 
the edge. The size of a home-made aquarium can 
be anything that you desire. It is customary to 
allow a gallon of water to each three-inch gold fish 



WATER LIFE 161 

that will inhabit it. By multiplying the three di- 
mensions, length, width and height of your box and 
by dividing your result, which will be in cubic 
inches, by 231 (the number of cubic inches in a 
gallon) you can tell how many gallons of water it 
will hold. Of course the rule for gold fish is not 
absolute. The nature student will probably have 
no gold fish at all. They are not nearly so interesting 
as our native kinds. Besides nearly all varieties 
of fresh water fish will either kill gold fish or if they 
are too large to kill will at least make life so misera- 
ble for them that to keep them together is cruelty 
to animals. If we keep in our aquarium the speci- 
mens that we collect in our neighbourhood, beetles, 
newts, crawfish, snails, and tiny sunfish the number 
may be greatly increased. Overcrowding however 
is very bad. The ideal we should strive for is not 
''how many specimens" but "how many kinds" 
we can have in our collection. 

The white wood board should have three or four 
hardwood cleats screwed to the bottom to prevent 
warping. The corner pieces of our glass box may 
either be made of sheet copper or heavy tin, or of 
wood, if we cannot work in metals. The wooden 
strips and the bottom board should have grooves 
ploughed in them to hold the glass. All the wood- 



162 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

work should be given several coats of asphalt varnish 
and to further waterproof it and as a final coat use 
some kind of marine copper paint that is used to 
coat the bottoms of vessels. Never use the common 
white lead and linseed oil paint for an aquarium. 

You can sometimes buy aquarium cement or 
prepared putty at a "gold fish" store. This you 
will need to putty in the glass. If you cannot buy 
it, make it yourself from the asphalt varnish and 
whiting. Be sure that the paint and putty of an 
aquarium is thoroughly dry before you fill it with 
water. 

Perhaps the most satisfactory way to study fish 
and insect life in water is to use all glass boxes and 
globes. So many kinds of fish and insects are natural 
enemies, even though they inhabit the same streams, 
that they must be kept separate anyway. To put 
them in the same aquarium would be like caging 
up two game roosters. If we were studying the 
development of mosquitoes, for instance, from the 
larvse or eggs to the fully developed insect, we should 
not get very far in our nature study if we put them 
in an aquarium with fish. A fish will soon make 
short work of a hundred mosquito wigglers just as 
a large frog will eat the fish, a snake will eat the frog 
and so on. 



WATER LIFE 



163 



Rectangular glass boxes such as are commonly 
used for aquaria cost less than a dollar per gallon 
capacity. Goldfish globes cost about the same. 
White glass round aquaria are much cheaper and 
those made of greenish domestic glass are the 
cheapest of all, a glass tank holding eight gallons 
costing but two dollars. 

Any transparent vessel capable of holding water, 
even a Mason jar will make an aquarium from which 
a great deal of pleasure may be derived. The old 




A self-sustaining or balanced aquarium 

way of maintaining aquaria in good condition 
required a great deal of care and attention. The 
water had to be changed at least once a day if run- 
ning water was not available, and altogether they 



164 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

were so much trouble that as a rule owners soon 
tired of them. 

Modern aquaria are totally different. By a 
proper combination of fish and growing plants we 
can almost duplicate the conditions of nature and 
strike a balance so that the water need never be 
changed except when it becomes foul or to clean 
the glass. 

These are called " self-sustaining " aquaria and 
they are the only kind to have unless we can furnish 
running water from a public water supply. Self- 
sustaining aquaria are very simple and any boy 
or girl living near a brook can stock one at no ex- 
pense whatever. 

The method is as follows: First cover the bottom 
of the aquarium with a layer of sand and pebbles 
to a depth of about two inches. Then plant in the 
bottom some aquatic or water plants that you have 
collected from a near-by lake. Any kind of water 
plants will do — the kind of plants boys always 
call seaweed, even a thousand miles from the sea. 
In collecting the plants, choose small specimens and 
obtain roots and all. 

If you can find it, the best plant is fanwort. Other 
good kinds are hornwort, water starwort, tape 
grass, water poppy, milfoil, willow moss, and floating 



WATER LIFE 165 

plants like duckweed. Even if you do not know 
these by name they are probably common in your 
neighbourhood. Fill the tank with clean water. 
That taken from a spring or well is better than cistern 
water. After two or three days, when the plants 
seem to be well rooted, put in your fish. You may 
keep your aquarium in a light place, but always 
keep it out of the sun in summer and away from the 
heat of a stove or radiator in winter. 

The nature student will not attempt to stock up 
his aquarium immediately. He should always leave 
room for one more fish or bug. One year I started 
with a lone newt and before the summer was over 
I had thirteen sunfish, pickerel, bass, minnows, 
catfish, carp, trout, more newts, pollywogs or tad- 
poles, five kinds of frogs, an eel and all sorts of bugs, 
waterbeetles and insects. I soon found that one kind 
of insect would kill another and that sometimes my 
specimens would grow wings over night and fiy 
away. But to learn these things, even at our own 
disappointment is "nature study." If we knew it 
all in advance, we would not have much use for our 
experimental aquarium. 

Always keep a few snails and tadpoles, for they 
are the scavengers and will eat the refuse stuflF and 
keep the glass free from greenish scum. Boys 



166 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

and girls are almost sure to overfeed fish. This is 
a great mistake. The best standard feed is dried 
ants' eggs that can be bought for a few cents a 
box at any bird and fish store. Do not feed pieces 
of bread and meat. Study what their natural 
food is and if possible get that for them. 

If your fish seem sickly, give them a five-minute 
bath in salt water every day for a week. The kind 
of an aquarium above described is intended to fill 
an entirely diflferent purpose from the usual gold 
fish globe. In your excursions you will find all 
sorts of queer looking eggs and specimens. Some 
of the eggs are so tiny that they look almost like 
black or white dust on the water. Another kind 
will be a mass like a jellyfish with brown dots in it, 
still others will be fastened in masses to the under 
side of a leaf in the water or perhaps on the bottom. 
What are they.^ That is just the question and that 
is why you will carefully collect them and take 
them home to await developments. 

Always keep an accurate note-book with dates 
and facts. Also keep a close watch on your speci- 
mens. Sometimes they will hatch and be eaten 
by the other bugs before you could read this chapter. 

A nature student will need some part of the house 
that he may call his very own. Here he can keep 



WATER LIFE 167 

his specimens, his aquarium, his herbarium and 
what not. Around the wall he can hang the twigs 
with their cocoons, oak galls, last year's wasp and 
bird nests and other treasures. He should also 
have a work table that a little glue or ink will not 
injure and a carpet that has no further use in the 
household. Usually one corner of the attic or 
cellar is just the place. 

See to it that you do not make other people un- 
comfortable in the pursuit of your hobby. You 
will find that almost every one is afraid of bugs and 
toads and that most people live in a world full of 
wonderful things and only see a little beyond the 
end of their noses. 

There is a very practical side to nature study and 
the principal way that we can make it really pay, 
is to know our friends from our enemies in the 
animal and insect world. There are insects that 
chew, suck and bore to ruin our orchards and grain 
crops. They are our enemies. If we know their 
life story, where they hide and how they breed, we 
can fight them better. For every dollar's worth of 
crops that a farmer grows, it is estimated that his 
insect enemies eat another dollar's worth. A little 
bug called the "San Jose" scale has nearly ruined 
the orchards of some of the Eastern states. To 



168 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

figxit him, we must know how he lives. That is 
nature study. By study we learn that the hop-toad 
is our best garden friend. He will spend the whole 
night watching for the cutworms that are after 
our tomato plants. When we see a woodpecker 
industriously pecking at the bark of our apple 
trees, we know that he is after the larvae of the 
terrible codling moth and we call him our friend. 

After we learn that a ladybug lives almost entirely 
on plant lice and scale insects, we never kill one again 
except perhaps to place a specimen in our collection. 
Naturalists say that without ladybugs, our orchards 
would soon be entirely killed off. 

The dragon fly or mosquito hawk as well as "water 
tigers," water striders and many kinds of beetles 
are the natural enemies of mosquitoes and as they 
never harm our crops we should never harm them. 
Nearly every living creature has some enemies. 

You have perhaps heard the famous verse of 
Dean Swift: 

" So naturalists observe, a flea 
Has smaller that upon them prey 
And these have smaller still to bite 'em 
And so proceed ad infinitum" 

Among our insect friends the leading place be- 
longs either to the honey bee or the silkworm. As 
silkworms are not especially successful in this 



WATER LIFE 169 

country and as their principal food, mulberry trees, 
are not common, the nature student who cares to 
study our beneficial insects had better devote his 




An observation beehive 

attention to honey bees. An observation beehive 
is simply a glass box or hive instead of a wooden 
one. When we are not engaged in studying our 
bee city, the hive must be covered with a blanket 
as bees prefer to work in the dark. A boy or girl 
living in the country can also keep bees profitably 
and thus combine business with pleasure. A single 
hive will in a few years produce enough swarms to 
give us a good start as "bee farmers." 



X 

THE CARE OF PETS 

Cats — Boxes for song birds — How to attract the birds — Tame 

crows — The pigeon fancier — Ornamental land and water 

fowl — Rabbits, guinea pigs, rats and mice — How to 

build coops — General rules for pets — The dog 

IN THIS chapter on pets, I regret exceedingly 
that I cannot say much in favour of the 
family cat. Like nearly all children, I was 
brought up to love kittens and to admire their 
playful, cunning ways. When a kitten becomes a 
cat my love for it ceases. Cats will do so many 
mean, dishonourable things, and will catch so many 
song birds and so few rats and mice that it simply 
has become a question whether we shall like the 
song birds or the cat. So many people do like cats 
that it is unfair perhaps to condemn the whole race 
for the misdeeds of a few. If a cat is carefully 
watched or if we put a bell on its neck, these pre- 
cautions will to a certain extent keep the cat from 
catching birds, but most people have something 
better to do than to act as guardian for a cat. The 

170 



THE CARE OF PETS 171 

fact IS that a cat is a stupid animal seldom showing 
any real affection or loyalty for its owner and possess- 
ing but little intelligence. It is very difficult to 
teach a cat even the simplest tricks. We never 
know when a cat will turn on its best friend. They 
have the "tiger" instinct of treachery. A cat which 
one minute is contentedly purring on our lap may 
sink its claws into us the next. 

The only way to force a cat to catch mice is to 
keep it half starved. Then instead of catching 
mice, it will probably go after birds if there are any 
in the neighbourhood. I have shut a cat up in a 
room with a mouse and it is doubtful whether the 
cat or the mouse were the more frightened. The cat 
does more damage to the song birds of this country 
than any other enemy they have. If kept at home 
and well fed, cats sometimes become so fat and stupid 
that they will not molest birds but this is due to 
laziness and not to any good qualities in the cat. 
In normal condition they are natural hunters. 

The habits of a cat are unclean, its unearthly 
cries at night are extremely disagreeable and alto- 
gether it is a nuisance. A famous naturalist, Shaler, 
once said "A cat is the only animal that has been 
tolerated, esteemed and at times worshipped without 
having a single distinctly valuable quality." 



172 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

A few years ago a quail had a nest under a rock 
opposite my house. Quail raise their young like 
poultry rather than like robins or wrens or the other 
song birds. As soon as the tiny quail chicks are 
hatched, the mother takes them around like a hen 
with a brood of chickens. This mother quail was 
my especial care and study. She became so tame 
that I could feed her. Finally she hatched out ten 
tiny brown balls of feathers. Our cat had 
been watching her, too, but not from the same 
motives and one day the cat came home with the 
mother quail in her mouth. She ran under the porch 
just out of reach and calmly ate it. The little brood 
were too small to look out for themselves so of course 
they all died or fell an easy victim to other cats. 
The mother was probably an easy prey because in 
guarding the young, a quail will pretend to have a 
broken wing and struggle along to attract attention 
to her and away from her little ones, who scurry 
to high grass for safety. I have never been very 
friendly to cats since I witnessed this episode. 

It has been estimated that the average domestic 
cat kills an average of one song bird a day during 
the season when the birds are with us. In certain 
sections a cat has been known to destroy six nests 
of orioles, thrushes and bobolinks in a single day. 



THE CAEE OF PETS 173 

The worst offenders are cats that Hve around barns 
and old houses in a half wild condition. Many 
people who say they "haven't the heart to kill a 
cat" will take it away from home and drop it along 
the road. A thoughtless act like this may mean 
the death of a hundred birds in that neighbourhood. 
It takes less heart to kill the cat than to kill the 
birds. So much for the cat. 

Birds make splendid pets, but in keeping them in 
captivity, we must be sure that we are not violating 
the game laws of the state we live in. Nearly 
everywhere it is unlawful to 
keep in cages any native song 
birds or those that destroy harm- 
ful insects — the so-called "in- 
sectivorous birds." This in- 
cludes thrushes, wrens, robins, 
bluebirds, orioles or, in fact, 
practically all birds but crows, 
blackbirds and kingfishers. It 
does not cover canaries, parrots, 
or any birds that are not native. 
It is an excellent law and every ^ ^^^^ ^o"«® 

boy or girl should act as a special policeman to 
see that his friends and companions do not molest 
either birds or their nests. It is cruel to cage 




174 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

a wild bird anyway for a cage is nothing but 
a prison. There is no law against taming the 
birds or making friends of them and after all 
this is the most satisfactory way. 

If we build houses for the birds to nest in, provide 
feed for them and in other ways do what we can 
to attract them, they will soon learn that we are 
their friends. We must study their habits and 
always avoid frightening them. Next to a cat, the 
worst enemies of our song birds are the English 
sparrows. A sparrow is always fair game for the 
boy with a slingshot or rifle. In many places these 
sparrows have driven practically all the other birds 
out of the neighbourhood, have robbed their nests 
and in other ways have shown themselves to be a 
public nuisance. Until 1869 there were no sparrows 
in this country and now they are more numerous 
than any other variety of birds, and sooner or later, 
the Government will have to take steps to exter- 
minate them or we shall have no song birds at 
all. 

The usual size of a bird house is six inches square 
and about eight inches high. It should always 
be made of old weather-beaten boards in order not 
to frighten away its prospective tenants by looking 
like a trap of some kind. The chances are that the 



THE CARE OF PETS 175 

sparrows will be the first birds to claim a house 
unless we keep a close watch and drive them away. 

One way to keep them out is to make the entrance 
doorway too small for them to enter. A hole an 
inch in diameter will admit a wren or chickadee and 
bar out a sparrow, but it will also keep out most 
of the other birds. The usual doorway should be 
two inches in diameter. It is surprising how soon 
after we build our bird house we find a tiny pair 
making their plans to occupy it and to take up 
housekeeping. Sometimes this will happen the 
same day the bird house is set up. Always provide 
some nesting material near at hand; linen or cotton 
thread, ravellings, tow, hair and excelsior are all 
good. Of course we must not attempt to build 
the nest. No one is skillful enough for that. 

Nearly all of our native birds are migratory, 
that is they go south for the winter. The date 
that we may look for them to return is almost the 
same year after year. Some few birds — bluebirds, 
robins, cedar birds and song sparrows will stay 
all winter if it is mild but as a rule we must not 
expect the arrival of the feathered songsters until 
March. The phoebe bird is about the first one we 
shall see. 

In April look for the brown thrasher, catbird. 



176 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

wren, barn, eave and tree swallows, martins, king 
birds and chipping sparrows. In May the principal 
birds of our neighbourhood will return — thrushes, 
vireos, tanagers, grosbeaks, bobolinks, orioles. The 
game birds — quail, partridge, meadowlarks and 
pheasants do not migrate as a rule. At least they 
do not disappear for a time and then return. When 
they leave a neighbourhood, they rarely come back 
to it. 

All the song birds begin nesting in May. Conse- 
quently we should have our bird houses "ready for 
occupancy" May 1st. It will take about twelve 
days for most birds to hatch their eggs. Some 
varieties will hatch three broods in a season, but 
two is the usual rule. 

We shall require a great deal of patience to tame 
the wild birds. Some bird lovers have succeeded 
in teaching birds to feed from their hands. A wild 
bird that is once thoroughly frightened can probably 
never be tamed again. 

A crow is a very interesting pet. Crows are es- 
pecially tamable and may be allowed full liberty 
around the dooryard. We must get a young one 
from the nest just before it is ready to fly. Crows 
are great thieves and are attracted by bright objects. 
If you have a tame crow, and if any member of 



THE CARE OF PETS 177 

your household misses jewellery or thimbles you had 
better look in the crows' nest before you think that 
burglars have been around. 

The chief difference between tamed wild animals, 
such as squirrels, birds, owls, foxes, crows and so 
on, and the domesticated animals and birds, dogs, 
cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, pigeons and chickens, 
lies in the possibility with the latter of modifying 
nature and breeding for certain special markings, 
colours or size. All breeds of chickens from the 
little bantams to the enormous Brahmas have been 
bred from a wild species of chicken found in India 
and called the jungle fowl. 

All the great poultry shows held throughout 
the country annually are for the purpose of exhibiting 
the most perfectly marked specimens of the breeders' 
skill. This is decided by judges who award prizes. 
The competition is sometimes very keen. In 
barred Plymouth Rock chickens, for example, 
there are sometimes a hundred birds entered to 
compete for a single prize. The breeders are called 
fanciers. The principal breeders of certain animals 
such as rabbits, pigeons or poultry, form an associa- 
tion or club and agree to an imaginary type of the 
animal called the ideal or "Standard of Perfection." 

For example, the breeders of white fantail pigeons 



178 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

agree that perfect birds shall be of certain shape and 
size, with the head resting on the back just at the 
base of the tail; the tail should be spread out like 
a fan and contain at least twenty-eight feathers. 
These feathers should be laced on the ends. The 
model fantail should have a nervous jerky motion 
and never be at rest. Each of these points is given 
a certain value on a scale of marking and in judging 
the birds they are marked just as you may be in 
your lessons at school. The fancier tries to breed 
a bird that comes the nearest to this model. The 
prizes are sometimes of great value. 

There is an enormous list of breeds in nearly all 
varieties of animals and poultry. In pigeons alone 
there are carriers, pouters, tumblers, baldheads, 
beards, dragoons, barbs, jacobins, Antwerps, turbits, 
owls, orientals, damoscenes, capuchins, fantails, 
trumpeters, swifts, Lahores, Burmese, Scandaroons, 
magpies, nuns. Archangels, runts and so on. 

These birds are very different in appearance, the 
pouter, for example, has the power of inflating his 
crop until it puffs out in front as large as a baseball. 
Jacobins or as they are commonly called, "ruffle- 
necks," have an immense ruflSie of feathers like a 
feather boa. Dragoons have a huge wart on the bill 
as large as an almond. The tumblers are so named 



THE CAEE OF PETS 179 

from their habit of turning backward somersaults 
during flight. 

Almost every one who starts keeping domestic 
pets either soon tires of the sport or becomes a 
fancier. The care of common pigeons is a very 
simple matter. The principal thing is a good loft 
or cote for them in the top of a barn or house. They 
will practically take care of themselves and after a 
few years greatly increase in numbers. 

A model pigeon house for breeding fancy pigeons 
requires separate mating boxes, nests and other 
appliances. It would be impossible to make much 
of a success with fancy pigeons if they are allowed 
their liberty to fly about and mate at will. 

The best nest boxes for pigeons are rough earthen- 
ware pans, eight inches across, which may be bought 
cheaply at a bird store. The floor of the cote should 
be covered with sawdust or gravel to the depth of 
half an inch. Pigeons that are confined should 
be fed regularly on a mixture of small grains and 
cracked corn. They should also be given cracked 
oyster shells, grit and charcoal occasionally. A 
pigeon loft should be rat proof and clean. 

It is very doubtful whether there is any money 
in raising pigeons or squabs for market. Fanciers 
never sell their output for market purposes unless 



180 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

it is to get rid of surplus or undesirable stock. A 
breeder who is successful in winning prizes with birds 
of his "strain" as it is called will find a ready market 
with other breeders for all the birds he cares to sell. 
Prize winning birds sometimes bring a hundred dol- 
lars a pair. It is by no means easy to breed prize- 
winners and the chances are that the beginner will 
be a buyer of stock rather than a seller. 

Homing pigeons or as they are commonly called, 
carriers, are not bred for special markings like fancy 
pigeons but because of their power and speed in 
flight. A carrier has the ''homing" instinct more 
fully developed than any other animal. In some 
homing pigeon races, the birds have made speed 
records of over a mile a minute for many hours 
and have flown over a thousand miles. If a well- 
bred homing pigeon fails to return to his home loft 
it is almost a certainty that he is either forcibly 
detained or that he has been killed by hunters or 
hawks. Never try to capture a pigeon that may 
stop for a rest at your loft. He may be in a race 
and his owner may be waiting for his return five 
hundred miles away when every minute counts in 
winning a prize. 

Another large class of birds that make fine pets 
although they are not strictly in the class of birds 



THE CARE OF PETS 181 

bred by the fancier are the ornamental land and 
water fowl. The chief objection to these birds 
as pets is the expense of buying them. The list of 
birds in this class is very large. In swans the 
leading varieties are mute, American whistling, 
black Australian, white Berwick and black-necked 
swans. The largest class are the pheasants. They 
are exceedingly beautiful, especially the golden, 
silver. Lady Amherst, Elliott, Reeves, green Japa- 
nese, Swinhoe, English ring neck, Melanotis, and Tor- 
quatis pheasants. The common wild geese are 
Egyptian, Canadian, white-fronted, Sebastopol, 
snow, brant, bar-headed, spin-winged and many 
others. In ducks, there are mallards, black, wood, 
mandarin, blue and green winged teal, widgeon, red- 
head, pin-tail, bluebill, gadwell, call and many 
others. Beside pheasants, ducks and geese there 
are also the various storks, cranes, pea-fowl and 
herons in the "ornamental fowl" list. 

These are all wild fowl. The commoner varieties 
will cost from six to fifteen dollars a pair and the 
rare ones several hundred. To keep the semi- 
wild birds from flying away they are usually pinioned, 
a process of taking off the end joint of one wing. 
The colours of some of the ornamental fowl are more 
beautiful than any birds in nature. Pheasants 



182 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

especially are easily cared for and make interesting 
pets. They can be tamed and if kept outdoors 
they will seldom be subject to disease. Most of 
these birds are as easily cared for as chickens. 




A home-made rabbit house 

Rabbits make fine pets for boys and girls. They 
are clean in their habits, hardy and gentle. The 
common kinds are white rabbits with pink eyes or 
albinos, and brown rabbits or Belgian hares. With 
rabbits also there is a "fancy." The Fur Fanciers' 
Association recognizes the following distinct breeds: 
Belgians, Flemish giants, Dutch marked, English, 
Himalayan, silvers, tans, Polish, lops, and Angoras. 

A rabbit hutch or coop is easily built from old 
packing boxes. One third of the coop should be 



THE CARE OF PETS 183 

darkened and made into a nest, with an entrance 
door outside and the rest simply covered with a 
wire front, also with a door for cleaning and feeding. 
The hutch should stand on legs above ground as 
rabbits do not thrive well in dampness. They will, 
however, live out all winter in a dry place. A box 
four feet long and two feet wide will hold a pair 
of rabbits nicely. Rabbits will become very tame 
and may often be allowed full liberty about the place 
if there are no dogs to molest them. 

The drawing shows a standard type of rabbit 
hutch. A boy who is handy with tools can easily 
build one. We can always dispose of the increase 
in our rabbit family to friends or to dealers. 

Guinea pigs or cavies are similar to rabbits in 
their requirements. The chief difference is that 
guinea pigs cannot stand excessive cold and will 
not do well if kept outside in severe winter weather. 
Rabbits and cavies will eat almost anything and 
eat constantly. The usual feed is hay, clover, wheat, 
corn, carrots, turnips, cabbage, lettuce, celery, potato 
parings, or any green food or grains. Cavies are 
especially fond of bread and milk. 

The three classes of cavies are Peruvians or Ango- 
ras, with long silky hair; Abyssinians, with coarse 
hair in tufts or rosettes, and the common guinea 



184 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

pig or smooth cavy. A pair of cavies will cost 
about two dollars. A dry airy cellar is a good place 
to keep them as they are cleanly in their habits. 
Neither cavies nor rabbits are especially intelligent 
but they do learn to know their master or at least 
the one who feeds them. Pet rats and mice are 
in the same class as rabbits but they should always 
have a coop that they will not gnaw out of. There 
is even a mouse club. It is in Europe and has over 
a thousand members. 

An interesting example of skill in breeding is seen 
in Dutch belted varieties of cattle, in hogs, rabbits, 
cavies and mice. In all of these animals the same 
markings have been bred by careful crossing and selec- 
tion. In all lines of "fancy" it is important to stick 
to a few varieties. We shall never make much of a 
success if we have half a dozen kinds of chickens, 
pigeons or rabbits. By far the most important 
*' fancy" is with chickens, but this subject will be 
considered in the chapter on the care of poultry. 

Among other pets are tame squirrels, turtles, 
snakes, lizards and toads. A tame gray squirrel 
makes a splendid pet. After a while we can give 
our squirrel full liberty and find him back in his nest 
at night. I once had a tame owl but I found that 
because of his habit of flying and feeding at night 



THE CARE OF PETS 185 

he was a very stupid pet. Besides that his powerful 
beak and sharp claws or talons were dangerous. 
I also once had a pair of flying squirrels but they 
also only appear at night and were consequently 
uninteresting in the daytime. We must always 
study the natural habits of our pets and try to give 
them coops and food as much like nature as possible. 
My flying squirrels were given soft feed in place of 
the usual hard-shelled nuts. Consequently their teeth 
grew so long that they were a positive deformity. 
We finally liberated them but before they could 
get to a place of safety one of them was caught and 
killed by a chicken. The poor little creature was 
so fat from overfeeding and lack of exercise that he 
had all but lost the power of using his legs. 

Coops for pets may be as elaborate as our pocket- 
book will allow. The important things to remember 
are to construct a coop so that it may be cleaned 
easily, and to provide plenty of ventilation. It 
must also be dry. Fresh air is as important for ani- 
mals as for people. The larger we can make a coop, 
the better it will be. Be careful not to overfeed 
pets. Regular and frequent meals of just what they 
will eat up clean is better than an occasional big 
meal. Rabbits require very little water. Usually 
they will obtain enough moisture from the green 



186 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

food they eat. It is a mistake, however, to think 
that water will kill rabbits. Change the straw in 
the nest boxes frequently. When they make fur 
nests do not disturb them. 

For squirrels and other small animals, the coop 
may be made entirely of wire except the baseboard, 
which should be a piece of seasoned wood. Be sure 
that there are no sharp wire points or projecting nails 
in a coop to injure the animals. 

The whole secret of taming wild creatures is 
patience. We must try to show them that we are 
their friends. The most direct way to an animal's 
heart is through his stomach, which is another way 
of saying that the owner should personally feed his 
own pets if he wishes them to know him. 

There is really no reason why a country boy or girl 
should have any caged pets at all. In the city it is dif- 
ferent. Perhaps the best pet for the unnatural condi- 
tions of city life is a canary. The real spirit to develop 
a love for the little creatures that inhabit our woods 
and fields is to feel that they are our friends rather than 
that they are prisoners. By all means cultivate the 
acquaintance of your "small country neighbours." 

THE DOG 

Every boy should own a dog. He is the friend 
and companion of our youth. For a boy to grow 



THE CARE OF PETS 187 

up without a dog is to be denied one of the real 
joys of life. 

Senator Vest once said: "The one absolute, 
unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish 
world; the one that never deserts him, the one that 
never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog. 
He will sleep on the cold ground where the wintry 
winds blow and the snow drives fiercely if only he 
can be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand 
that has no food to offer, he will guard the sleep of 
his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all 
other friends desert he remains." 

The breed makes but little difference so long as 
the dog is intelligent and kind. Mixed breeds and 
mongrel dogs are often the most intelligent. A 
thoroughbred dog will give us more satisfaction 
possibly than a mongrel because he will make a better 
appearance. But at the same time, he is far more 
likely to be stolen. There are so many breeds 
to select from that it is almost impossible to give 
much advice. As a rule, the dog we shall like is the 
one we can get. The very heavy dogs such as Saint 
Bernards, mastiffs and great Danes are clumsy 
and will require outside quarters, as they are too 
bulky to have in the house. On the other hand 
the small toy breeds such as Pomeranians, black 



188 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

and tans and King Charles spaniels and pugs, are 
too delicate to be a real boy's dog. A list from which 
you may safely select a dog would be bull terriers, 
Airedale terriers, Scotch terriers, Irish terriers, cocker 
spaniels, pointers and setters, either Irish or English. 
This is by no means a complete list. I prefer a 
setter because my first dog," Old Ben," was a setter, 
and he shared in most of my fun from the earliest 
recollections that I have. When he died I lost a 
true friend. It was the first real sorrow I ever had. 

A dog should not sleep in the same room with 
his owner, but should have a warm dry kennel and 
be taught to regard it as his home. 

Do not make the mistake of overfeeding a dog. 
He does not need three meals a day. One is suffi- 
cient, about nine in the morning, when he should 
have all he wants to eat. If you insist on a second 
meal give him a dog biscuit or a bone to gnaw on 
in the evening. 

Keep your dog free from fleas, in spite of what 
David Harum says that "a reasonable amount of 
fleas is good for a dog, because it keeps him from 
brooding over being a dog." A thorough bath with 
carbolic soap and water will rid a dog of fleas, but 
this treatment should be repeated at weekly inter- 
vals to kill the eggs which hatch in the meantime. 



THE CARE OF PETS 189 

Fresh insect powder or Scotch snuff if dusted 
thoroughly in a dog's coat will cause fleas to leave. 
This treatment should be done out of doors. A good 
plan is to place the dog on a sheet or piece of white 
paper and work the powder well into the hair, 
especially around his neck and behind the ears. 
Be careful not to injure his eyes. 

A dog will soon recognize his master, and there 
is no quicker way to show that you are his master 
than to enforce obedience when you attempt to make 
him mind. Whether a whipping is necessary de- 
pends on the dog. With most dogs a good scolding 
will be sufficient. Never whip a dog when you are 
angry and never overdo the matter. It is possible 
to "break a dog's spirit," which simply means to 
make him afraid of you. A dog so frightened is 
ruined until you regain his confidence, a very difficult 
thing to do. Never cuff a dog with your hand. 
Always use a whip or switch. Let the whipping 
be a definite ceremony with a plain object in view. 

Some dogs will prove to be headstrong and others 
will try to do whatever their master wants. There 
is an amazing difference in dogs and their intelli- 
gence seems to have no limits. 

A dog must never be allowed to annoy our neigh- 
bours or friends. One of the most annoying habits 



190 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

that a dog cultivates is that of running out and 
barking at passing carriages or people. A few 
lessons in discipline early in life will break him of 
this habit, but once acquired it is practically un- 
breakable. 

Another very annoying habit is that of allowing 
a dog to put his paws on us. We may not mind it 
when we are dressed in old clothes but friends or call- 
ers are possibly not so considerate. 

Nearly every bad habit that a dog learns is usu- 
ally the fault of the owner rather than of the dog. 
The training of a dog should be done as a puppy. 
Therefore we must secure our dog as young as 
possible. 

In training hunting dogs the first step is called 
"yard-breaking." With ordinary dogs a thorough 
course in yard-breaking by teaching the simple 
command is all that will be necessary. First of 
all, teach your dog to lie down and come to you at 
call. The usual word for the former is ''charge." A 
dog can be taught this in a very short time. Take 
him by the neck and back, and at the word, force 
him to lie down. Do not use any other words, 
or even pet him. Simply impress on his mind that 
when he hears "charge" it means lie down. As a 
rule a puppy is taught to come by snapping the fingers 



THE CARE OF PETS 191 

or by making a noise with the Hps similar to that 
by which we urge a horse. It is almost natural to 
say "Come here." After a puppy learns to follow 
us at the command *'heel in" and to run ahead 
when we say '*go on," we must also teach him to 
come when we whistle. Most boys can make a 
whistle with the fingers sufiiciently penetrating to 
call a dog for a long distance but a small metal whistle 
to carry in the pocket is the best way. 

After a dog has acquired the simple lessons of 
training we shall find that he learns to understand 
us and to do our wishes very quickly. There should 
be a complete understanding between a dog and his 
owner. He will know our ways and we shall know 
his. 

I have hunted in Virginia with a dog so intelligent 
that merely by watching him his master could tell 
whether he was on the trail of a rabbit, wild turkey, 
or deer. For each kind of game he had a different 
manner of barking and what is more remarkable, 
he was a thoroughly broken quail dog with the best 
"nose" or scent I have ever known and of course 
did not bark under these circumstances. Such a 
dog would be a mystery to any one who did not 
know his ways. 

This dog "Old Doc" would hunt with any one on 



192 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

quail, but if the hunter did not succeed in killing game 
the dog would soon show this disapproval in every 
way, sulk along behind, and if the poor shooting 
continued, finally leave for home. A friend who 
took him out told me, "First I missed the birds and 
then I missed the dog." He had left in disgust. 

No matter what breed our dog is we shall surely 
become greatly attached to him and almost look 
upon him as a friend rather than as an animal. A 
boy should never encourage a dog to fight. It is 
a cruel, unmanly thing and one that a real dog lover 
will never do. Dog fighting is a form of brutality 
second only to tying tin cans and other things to 
a dog's tail for the ''fun" of seeing him run. I 
once saw a poor beast lose his tail as a result of this 
brutal joke. Some one had tied a string tightly 
around his tail and the dog ran until completely 
exhausted. He then kept out of sight for a few days. 
In the meantime the string caused his tail to become 
fearfully sore and finally to fall off. Can any one 
see a joke in this.^ 



XI 

THE CARE OF CHICKENS 

The best breed — Good and bad points of incubators — What 
to feed small chicks — A model chicken house 

A PEN of chickens gives a boy or girl an oppor- 
tunity for keeping pets that have some real 
value. Whether there is much profit in 
poultry is a question, but it is at least certain that 
the more care you give them the better they pay. 
There is but little difference in the results obtained 
from the various breeds of chickens, but there is 
a great difference in the people who take care of 
them. It is very difficult to make poultry pay on 
a large scale. Nearly every poultry farm that has 
started as a business has failed to make a success. 
The surest way to make chickens pay is to have 
only a few. Then the table scraps and the worms 
and weed seeds they can pick up will supply them 
with practically all their feed and the time you give 
them need not be counted as expense. 

There are sixty or seventy distinct breeds of 
poultry recognized by expert fanciers and from three 

193 



194 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

to ten colours or varieties in many of these breeds. 
New ones are being added constantly. For example, 
a breed called Orpingtons was recently introduced 
from England and now has ten varieties or colours 
that are "standard." At the New York Poultry 
Show a record price of $2,500 was paid for the 
prize-winning hen of this breed. There is a style 
in chickens as well as in anything else. A new 
breed will always have a great many admirers at 
first, and great claims will be made for its superior 
qualities. The poultry men who have stock and 
eggs to sell will secure high prices for their output. 
Very soon, however, the real value of a new breed 
will be known and it will be on the same basis as 
the older breeds. 

A beginner had better start with some standard 
recognized breed and leave the experimenting to 
some one else. One thing is certain: thoroughbreds 
will pay better than mongrels. Their eggs are of 
more uniform size and colour, the stock will be healthy 
and as a rule weigh a pound or two more than birds 
of uncertain breeding. Thoroughbreds do not cost 
any more to feed or care for than the mongrels 
and in every way are superior. 

Breeds of poultry are usually divided into three 
separate classes, depending on the place where the 



THE CARE OF CHICKENS 195 

breed originated. They are the American, Asiatic, 
and Mediterranean strains. The leading American 
breed is the barred Plymouth Rock and for a 
beginner will probably be the best to start with. 

Another very excellent American or general pur- 
pose breed is the White Wyandotte. They are espe- 
cially valuable as broilers, as they make rapid growth 
while young. The Leghorns are the leading breed 
for eggs. They are "non-sitters" and, being very 
active, do not become overfat. Their small size, 
however, makes them poor table fowls and for this 
reason they are not adapted to general use. The 
Asiatic type, which includes Brahmas, Langshans, 
and Cochins, are all clumsy, heavy birds, which make 
excellent table fowl but are poor layers and poor for- 
agers. Brahma roosters will frequently weigh fifteen 
pounds and can eat corn from the top of a barrel. 

A beginner should never attempt to keep more 
than one kind of chickens. To get a start, we 
must either buy a pen of birds or buy the eggs and 
raise our own stock. The latter method will take 
a year more than the former, as the chicks we hatch 
this year will be our layers a year later. Sometimes 
a pen of eight or ten fowls can be bought reasonably 
from some one who is selling out. If we buy from 
a breeder who is in the business they will cost about 



196 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

five dollars a trio of two hens and a rooster. The 
cheapest way is to buy eggs and hatch your own stock. 
The usual price for hatching-eggs is one dollar for 
fifteen eggs. We can safely count on hatching eight 
chicks from a setting, of which four may be pullets. 
Therefore we must allow fifteen eggs for each four 
pullets we intend to keep the next year. The surplus 
cockerels can be sold for enough to pay for the cost 
of the eggs. If we have good luck we may hatch 
every egg in a setting and ten of them may be 
pullets. On the other hand, we may have only two 
or three chicks, which may all prove to be cockerels ; 
so the above calculation is a fair average. If we 
start with eggs, we shall have to buy or rent some 
broody hens to put on the eggs. A good plan is to 
arrange with some farmer in the neighbourhood to 
take charge of the eggs and to set his own hens on 
them. I once made such an arrangement and 
agreed to give him all but one of the cockerels that 
hatched. I was to take all the pullets. The ar- 
rangement was mutually satisfactory and he kept 
and fed the chicks until they were able to leave the 
mother hen — about eight weeks. It is also possible 
to buy one-day-old chicks for about ten or fifteen 
cents apiece from a poultry dealer, but the safest 
way is to hatch your own stock. 



THE CARE OF CHICKENS 197 

The easiest way to make a large hatch all at one 
time is with an incubator. There are a number of 
very excellent makes advertised in the farm papers 
and other magazines and the prices are quite reason- 
able. An incubator holding about a hundred eggs 
will cost ten or twelve dollars. There are many 
objections to incubators which we can learn only 
from practical experience. We shall not average 
more than 50 per cent, hatches as a rule. That is 
to say, for every hundred eggs we set we must not 
count on hatching more than fifty chicks. Incu- 
bators are a constant care. The most important 
objection to an incubator is that it is against the 
rules of most fire insurance companies to allow it 
to be operated in any building that the insurance 
policy covers. If the automatic heat regulator 
fails to work and the heat in our incubator runs up 
too high we may have a fire. At any rate, we shall 
lose our entire hatch. The latter is also true if 
the lamp goes out and the eggs become too cool. 
I have made a great many hatches with incubators 
of different makes and my experience has been 
that we must watch an incubator almost constantly 
to have success with it. 

The sure way to hatch chickens is with a broody 
hen, but at the same time incubators are perfectly 



198 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

satisfactory if run in a room where the temperature 
does not vary much (a cellar is the best place). 
With an incubator there is always a temptation to 
attempt to raise more chickens than we can care for 
properly. Overcrowding causes more trouble than 
any other one thing. It is better to have a dozen 
chickens well cared for than a hundred that are 
neglected. 

Eggs for incubators will cost about five dollars 
a hundred. Of course if they are from prize-winning 
stock the cost will be several times this amount. 
Before placing any eggs in an incubator it should 
be run for two days to be sure that the heat regulator 
is in working order. The usual temperature for 
hatching is 103 degrees and the machine should be 
regulated for this temperature as it comes from the 
factory. Full directions for operating, as well as 
a thermometer, will come with the machine and 
should be studied and understood before we begin 
to operate it. As the hatch progresses, the heat 
will "run up," as it is called, and we shall need to 
understand how to regulate the thermostat to 
correct this tendency toward an increased temper- 
ature. The eggs in an incubator must be turned twice 
a day. To be sure that we do this thoroughly it 
is customary to mark the eggs before we place 



THE CARE OF CHICKENS 199 

them in the machine. The usual mark is an "X" 
on one side of the egg and an "O" on the other 
written in lead pencil. In placing the eggs in the 
trays we start with all the "O" marks up, for in- 
stance, and at the time of the first turning leave all 
the "X's" visible, alternating this twice every day. 

In order to operate an incubator successfully, 
we shall also need a brooder, which is really an 
artificial mother. There is a standard make of 
brooder costing five dollars that will accommodate 
fifty chicks. Brooders are very simple in construc- 
tion and can be made at home. A tinsmith will 
have to make the heating drum. The rest of it 
is simply a wooden box with a curtain partition 
to separate the hot room from the feeding space. 
Ventilating holes must be provided for a supply of 
fresh air and a box placed at the bottom to prevent 
a draught from blowing out the lamp. In a very 
few days after we place the chicks in a brooder they 
should be allowed to go in and out at will. In a 
week or two we shall be able to teach them the way 
in, and then by lowering the platform to the ground 
for a runway we can permit them to run on the 
ground in an enclosed runway. On rainy days we 
must shut them in. 

There is always a temptation to feed chicks too 



200 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

soon after they are hatched. We should always 
wait at least twenty -four hours to give them a chance 
to become thoroughly dry. The general custom 
of giving wet cornmeal for the first feed is wrong. 
Always feed chicks on dry food and you will avoid 
a great deal of sickness. An excellent first food is 
hard-boiled egg and corn bread made from cornmeal 
and water without salt and thoroughly baked until it 
may be crumbled. Only feed a little at a time, but 
feed often. Five times a day is none too much for 
two-week-old chicks. 

One successful poultryman I am acquainted with 
gives, as the first feed, dog biscuit crushed. All 
the small grains are good if they are cracked so that 
the chicks can eat them. The standard mixture 
sold by poultry men under the name "chick food" 
is probably the best. It consists of cracked wheat, 
rye, [and corn, millet seed, pinhead oatmeal, grit, 
and oyster shells. Do not feed meat to chicks until 
their pin feathers begin to show, when they may 
have some well-cooked lean meat, three times a week. 

There is quite an art in setting a hen properly. 
They always prefer a dry, dark place. If we are 
sure that there are no rats around, there is no better 
place to set a hen than on the ground. This is as 
they sit in nature and it usually seems to be the case 



THE CARE OF CHICKENS 201 

that a hen that steals her nest will bring out more 
chicks than one that we have coddled. Eggs that 
we are saving for hatching should be kept in a 
cool place but never allowed to freeze. They should 
be turned every day until they are set. Hens' 
eggs will hatch in about twenty-one days. The 
eggs that have failed to hatch at this time may be 
discarded. When we move a broody hen we must 
be sure that she will stay on her new nest before 
we give her any eggs. Test her with a china egg or 
a doorknob. If she stays on for two nights we may 
safely give her the setting. It is always better when 
convenient to set a hen where she first makes her 
nest. If she must be moved, do it at night with as 
little disturbance as possible. It is always a good 
plan to shut in a sitting hen and let her out once a 
day for feed and exercise. Do not worry if in your 
judgment she remains off the nest too long. The 
eggs require cooling to develop the air chamber 
properly, and as a rule the hen knows best. 

Young chickens are subject to a great many 
diseases, but if they are kept dry and warm, and if 
they have dry food, most of the troubles may be 
avoided. With all poultry, lice are a great pest. 
Old fowls can dust themselves and in a measure keep 
the pest in check, but little chicks are comparatively 



202 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

helpless. The big gray Hee will be found on a chick's 
neck near the head. The remedy for this is to grease 
the feathers with vaseline on the head and neck. 
The small white lice can be controlled by dusting 
the chicks with insect powder and by keeping the 
brooder absolutely clean. A weekly coat of white- 
wash to which some carbolic acid has been added 
will keep lice in check in poultry houses and is an 
excellent plan. Hen-hatched chicks are usually 
more subject to lice than those hatched in incubators 
and raised in brooders, as they become infected 
from the mother. Some people say that chicks 
have lice on them when they are hatched, but this 
is not so. 

The first two weeks of a chick's life are the impor- 
tant time. If they are chilled or neglected they 
never get over it, but will develop into weaklings. 
There are many rules and remedies for doctoring 
sick chickens, but the best way is to kill them. This 
is especially so in cases of roup or colds. The former 
is a very contagious disease and unless checked may 
kill an entire pen of chickens. A man who raises 
25,000 chickens annually once told me that "the 
best medicine for a sick chicken is the axe." 

A very low fence will hold small chicks from 
straying away, but it must be absolutely tight at 



THE CARE OF CHICKENS 203 

the bottom, as a very small opening will allow them to 
get through. Avoid all corners or places where they 
can be caught fast. The mesh of a wire fence must 
be fine. Ordinary chicken wire will not do. 

A brooder that will accommodate fifty chicks 
comfortably for eight weeks will be entirely too 



■*;:-., 




A home-made chicken coop built on the "scratching-shed" plan 

small even for half that number after they begin 
to grow. As soon as they can get along without 
artificial heat, the chickens should be moved to a 
colony house and given free range. They will 
soon learn to roost and to find their way in 
and out of their new home, especially if we 
move away the old one where they cannot 
find it. 



204 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

A chicken coop for grown fowls can be of almost 
any shape, size, or material, providing that we do 
not crowd it to more than its proper capacity. 
The important thing is to have a coop that is dry, 
easily cleaned and with good ventilation, but 
without cracks to admit draughts. A roost made of 
two by four timbers set on edge with the sharp corners 
rounded off is better than a round perch. No matter 
how many roosts we provide, our chickens will 
always fight and quarrel to occupy the top one. 
Under the roost build a movable board or shelf 
which may easily be taken out and cleaned. Place 
the nest boxes under this board, close to the ground. 
One nest for four hens is a fair allowance. Hens 
prefer to nest in a dark place if possible. A modern, 
up-to-date coop should have a warm, windproof 
sleeping room and an outside scratching shed. 
A sleeping room should be provided with a 
window on the south side and reaching nearly to the 
floor. A hotbed sash is excellent for this purpose. 
The runway or yard should be as large as our 
purse will permit. In this yard plant a plum tree 
for shade. The chickens will keep the plum trees 
free from the ''curculio," a small beetle which is 
the principal insect pest of this fruit. This beetle 
is sometimes called "the little Turk" because he 



THE CARE OF CHICKENS 205 

makes a mark on a plum that resembles the "star 
and crescent" of the Turkish flag. 

Whether we can make our poultry pay for the 
trouble and expense of keeping them will depend 
on the question of winter eggs. It is contrary to 
the natural habits of chickens to lay in winter, and 
if left to themselves they will practically stop laying 
when they begin to moult or shed their feathers in the 
fall, and will not begin again until the warm days of 
spring. When eggs are scarce it will be a great 
treat to be able to have our own supply instead of 
paying a high price at the grocer's. 

The fact that it is possible to get really fresh eggs 
in midwinter shows that with the proper care 
hens will lay. The average farm hen does not lay 
more than eighty eggs a year, which is hardly enough 
to pay for her feed. On the other hand, at an 
egg-laying contest held in Pennsylvania, the prize- 
winning pen made a record of 290 eggs per year for 
each hen. This was all due to better care and 
proper feed. 

The birds were healthy pullets to begin with, they 
had warm food and warm drinking water through- 
out the winter, their coop was a bright, clean, 
dry place with an outside scratching shed. The 
grain was fed in a deep litter of straw to make them 



206 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

work to get it and thus to obtain the necessary 
exercise to keep down fat. The birds in this 
contest were all hatched early in March and were 
all through the moult before the cold weather 
came. Most of the advertised poultry feeds for 
winter eggs are a swindle. If we give the birds 
proper care we shall not require any drugs. It is 
an excellent plan to give unthreshed straw to poultry 
in winter. They will work to obtain the grain and 
be kept busy. The usual quantity of grain for 
poultry is at the rate of a quart of corn or wheat to 
each fifteen hens. A standard winter ration is the 
so-called hot bran mash. This is made from wheat 
bran, clover meal, and either cut bone or meat^scraps. 
It will be necessary to feed this in a hopper to avoid 
waste and it should be given at night just before 
the birds go to roost, with the grain ration in 
the morning, which will keep them scratching 
all day. Always keep some grit and oyster^ shells 
where the chickens can get it ; also feed a little char- 
coal occasionally. 

A dust bath for the hens will be appreciated 
in winter when the ground is frozen. Sink a soap 
box in a corner of the pen and sheltered from rain 
or snow and fill it with dry road dust. Have an 
extra supply to fill up the box from time to time. 



THE CARE OF CHICKENS 207 

The best place for a chicken house is on a sandy 
hillside with a southern slope. A heavy clay soil 
with poor drainage is very bad. Six-foot chicken 
wire will be high enough to enclose the run. If 
any of the chickens persist in flying out we must 
clip the flight feathers of their wings (one wing, not 
both). Do not put a top board on the run. If 
a chicken does not see something to fly to, it will 
seldom attempt to go over a fence, even if it is quite 
low. 

It is much better to allow chickens full liberty if 
they do not ruin our garden or flower beds or persist 
in laying in out of the way places where the eggs 
cannot be found. 



XII 

WINTER SPORTS 
What to wear — Skating — Skiing — Snow-shoeing — Hockey 

IF ONE is fortunate enough to live in a part 
of the country where they have old-fash- 
ioned winters, the possibilities for outdoor 
sports are very great and the cold weather may be 
made the best part of the year for healthful outdoor 
exercise. To enjoy winter recreations properly 
we must have proper clothing. An ordinary over- 
coat is very much out of place, except possibly for 
sleighing. The regulation costume for almost any 
outdoor sport in winter is a warm coat, a heavy 
sweater, woollen trousers and stockings, and stout 
leather shoes. If in addition we have woollen 
gloves or mittens and a woollen skating cap or toque, 
we shall be enabled to brave the coldest kind of 
weather, provided of course that we have warm 
woollen underwear. Various modifications in this 
costume such as high hunting boots, or leggings and 
a flannel shirt worn under the sweater are possible. 
In the far North, the universal winter footwear is 




WINTER SPORTS 209 

moccasins. We must be careful not to dress too 
warmly when we expect to indulge in violent exercise. 
Excessive clothing will 
render us more liable to 
a sudden check of perspi- 
ration, a consequent clos- 
ing of the pores and a re- 
sulting cold. Rubber 
boots or overshoes are 
very bad if worn con- A shoepac 

stantly. The rubber, being waterproof, holds 
in the perspiration and we often find our stock- 
ings damp even when the walking is dry. Rub- 
ber boots also make our feet tender and cause 
cold feet. Tight shoes are also bad for the rea- 
son that they check circulation. The best foot- 
wear for a boy who lives in the country will be 
Indian moccasins or shoepacs worn with several 
pairs of lumbermen's woollen stockings. Such foot- 
wear would not do for skating, as they have no 
soles, but for outdoor tramping in the snow they are 
just the thing. No leather is thoroughly waterproof 
against snow water, but by frequent greasing with 
mutton tallow, neatsfoot oil or vaseline, shoes can be 
Kept soft and practically waterproof as long as the 
soles and uppers are in good condition. 



210 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

In all winter sports, especially in Canada, the 
custom is to wear gaily coloured goods. A mackinaw 
jacket made from the same material as a blanket, 
with very prominent stripes or plaids, is often worn. 
Closely woven goods are better than a thicker loose 
weave as they are lighter, warmer, and more water- 
proof. 

Chief among winter sports is skating. There is 
no healthier recreation, provided that the ice is safe. 
Even in the coldest weather with the ice a foot 
thick or more we must always be sure to be on the 
lookout for air-holes or thin places over springs. 
It is said that ice an inch thick will hold the weight 
of a man, but it is better to be sure than to be sorry, 
and three or four inches are much safer. 

A few years ago the height of the skater's art was 
so called ''fancy or figure" skating, but recently 

the tendency has been 
for speed rather than 
for grace and the old- 
The club skate model fashioucd club skates 

have been replaced by racing or hockey skates with 
much longer runners. Fancy skating for prizes is 
governed by rules just as any other game or sport. 
The contestants do not attempt figures of their own 
invention but strive to excel in the so-called "com- 




WINTER SPORTS 211 

pulsory" figures. A fancy skater can practise from 
diagrams and directions just as one might practise 
moves in a game of chess. In printed directions 
for fancy skating the following abbreviations are 
used for the strokes: 

R— right T— three 

L— left LP— loop 

F — forward B — bracket 

B — backward R C — rocker 

O — outside C — counter 
I — inside 

Supposing the figure to be executed to be the 
well-known "figure eight." It would be described 
as follows: 

R-F-0 L-F-0. R-F-I L-F-I. R-B-0 L-B-0. R-B-I L-B-I. 

By referring to the above table the skater can 
easily determine just what strokes are necessary 
to produce the figure properly. 

Racing skates should be attached to shoes of 
special design either by screws or rivets. The most 
important thing is to have the blades carefully 
ground by an expert. They should be keen enough 
to cut a hair. To become a fast skater, practise 
if possible with an expert. Have him skate ahead 
of you and measure your stroke with his. By keep- 
ing your hands clasped behind your back your 
balance will not only be greatly improved but your 



212 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

endurance will be doubled. The sprinting stroke 
is a direct glide ahead with the foot straight. A 
trained skater can go very long distances with very 
little fatigue but one must carefully measure his speed 
to the distance to be travelled. When you can cover 
a measured mile in three and one-half minutes 
you may consider yourself in the class of fast skaters. 
Hockey skates are somewhat shorter than racing 
skates although built on the same general lines, 



A hockey skate 

the standard length being from nine and one- 
half to eleven and one-half inches. Hockey is 
one of the best winter games either outdoors 
or in a rink. The game of shinney or * 'bandy'* 
as it is called in England has been modified in 
this country by substituting a flat piece of rubber 
weighing a pound called a "puck" for the india 
rubber lacrosse ball, which weighs but four ounces. 



WINTER SPORTS 213 

The best hockey sticks are made of Canadian rock 
elm. 

The whole idea of hockey is to shoot the puck 
through your opponents' goal and to prevent them 
from shooting it through yours. In practice almost 
any number can play hockey and have plenty of 




The hockey player's costume 

exercise. The less experienced players should when 
securing the puck always shoot it as quickly as possible 
to a more experienced player on their own side to 
attempt shooting the goal. Skilful passing is the 
most important branch of hockey and consequently 
good team work is absolutely essential to success. 



214 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

A regulation hockey team consist of seven players 
called goal, point, cover point, right centre, left 
centre, right wing, left wing. 

The position of goal tender is the most difficult 
to acquire skill in. He stands directly in front of 
the goal and is expected to stop the puck with hands, 
feet, and body. While the position of goal does not 
involve much skating, a goal tender should also be 
a good skater. His position requires more nerve 
and cool-headedness than any other position on 
the team because the final responsibility of all 
goals scored against his team is up to him. His 
position is largely a defensive one and his work at 
times very severe. The goal keeper must very 
rarely leave his position but must depend upon the 
two other defensive men the ''point" and "cover 
point " to stop the puck when it away from the direct 
line of the goal. The defensive men on a hockey 
team should not by any strategy or coaxing on the 
part of their opponents allow themselves to leave 
their own goal unprotected. 

The forwards have most of the work of shooting 
goals and advancing the puck. Of course such a 
man must be very active and a good all round player. 
Hockey is a poor game in which to display grand- 
stand playing. The player's whole idea should be 



WINTER SPORTS 215 

to shoot the puck so that either he or some member 
of his team may score a goal. 

The rules of hockey are comparatively few and 
simple. The game consists of two twenty-minute 
halves with a ten-minute intermission between. In 
case of a tie at the end of a game it is customary to 
continue until one side secures a majority of the points. 

A standard rink must be at least one hundred and 
twelve feet long by fifty-eight feet wide. Nets are 
six feet wide and four feet high. 

One of the most exciting of winter sports is skate 
sailing. The same principles that are applied to 
sailing a boat are brought into play in sailing with 
skates. While considerable skill is necessary to 
handle a skate sail well, any one who is a good skater 
will soon acquire it. The direction that you go 
is determined by the angle at which the sail is 
held. When you wish to turn around or stop 
you simply shift its position until you run dead 
into the wind. A skate sail should be light and 
strong. A limit of five pounds' weight is all that is 
necessary. The sail is a very simple device. There 
are a great many kinds but one of the simplest is 
made from a T-shaped frame of bamboo with a V- 
shaped piece of canvas or balloon silk sewed or wired 
to the frame. The best skate sails are made with 



216 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

a jointed frame like a fishing rod so that they may 
be taken apart and easily carried. 

While an expert can handle a sail eight or ten feet 
wide and twelve feet high it is better for the beginner 




A skate sail 

to start with one much smaller. The construction 
of the sail and the method of holding it are shown in 
the diagram. 

Snowshoeing is another winter sport that will 
furnish a great deal of pleasure and will enable us 



WINTER SPORTS 217 

to be outdoors when our less fortunate friends may 
be cooped up in the house. There are a number of 
standard shapes in snowshoes, but probably the 
"Canadian" model will be found to be the most 
satisfactory generally. Snowshoes should be from 
twenty-four to forty-four inches long depending on 




Four types of snowshoes 

the weight to be carried. In order to enjoy snowshoe- 
ing we must use moccasins. The proper method of 
attaching the snowshoes is clearly shown in the dia- 
grams. The beginner will find that snowshoeing is a 
very simple art to acquire, being far less difl[icult 
than skating and with far less danger of having a 
bad fall. 

The sport of *' ski-running" or skiing is practised 
more generally abroad than in this country. A 



218 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

number of winter resorts owe their popularity largely 
to this sport. Skis are simply long flat pieces of wood 




To throw the lumberman's hitch, start this way 

fastened or strapped to the shoes. The best type 
are the so called "Norway" pattern. Various 




Then across the toe with both ends and under the loop 

lengths are used from four to eight or nine feet long, 
but for a beginner the shorter ones will be better. 



I 



WINTER SPORTS 219 

Ski-running is simply coasting down steep inclines 
on the snow with the skis used in much the same way 




Draw the ends tightly forward to fasten down the toe 

as a sled. The longer they are the greater the 
speed obtained, but the longer ones are also corre- 
spondingly hard to manage. 




Then tie the ends together in a bow knot back of the heel 

In Norway and Sweden skis are made to order 
just as we might be measured for suits of clothes. 



220 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

The theory is that the proper length of ski will 

be such that the user, can, when standing erect 




The straps over the toe remain buckled 



and reaching above his head, just crook his forefinger 
over it as it stands upright. Ski shoes should 







1 


f... 


^/73g 


^:^=\ 


i 



This is the " thong " hitch but it is not as good as the lumberman's hitch 

be strong, with well blocked toes. A pair of 

heavy school shoes are just the thing if well made. 

To learn skiing we should select the slope of a 



WINTER SPORTS 221 

hill not very steep and with no dangerous rocks 
or snags to run foul of. The best snow conditions 
are usually found two or three days after it has 
fallen. Fresh snow is too light to offer good skiing 
and snow with a crust is also bad. In running 
with skis on the level ground a long, sweeping stride 
is used somewhat after the fashion of skating. The 



^^^^^^ 



Front and side view of a ski 

strokes should be made just as long as possible, 
and the skis kept close together. In going up an 
incline the tendency to slip backward is overcome 
by raising the toe of the ski slightly and bring- 
ing the heel down sharply. One foot should 
be firmly implanted before the other is moved. 
In going up a steep hill a zigzag course will be 
necessary. 

As an aid in ski-running it is customary to employ 
a pair of ski poles, which are fastened to the wrist 
by leather thongs. They are usually made of bam- 
boo or other light material with a wicker disk near 
the end to keep the pole from sinking into the soft 



222 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

snow. Ski poles should never be used in attempting 
a jump, as under these circumstances they might 
be very dangerous. 

Ski coasting is the sport that most boys will be 
interested in. To make a descent, begin at the top 
of a hill as one would in coasting with a sled and lean 
well forward with the skis parallel and with one foot 
slightly ahead of the other. The knees should be 
bent and the body rigid. The weight should be borne 
by the ball of the foot that is behind. As the start 



A ski pole 

forward begins, the impulse will be to lean back, but 
this impulse must be overcome or you will take a 
tumble in the snow as you gain speed. 

In jumping with skis an abrupt drop is necessary. 
For the beginner a few inches is sufficient. The 
start is made by coasting down an incline, and just 
before the take-off is reached, the runner assumes 
a crouching attitude and then straightens up quickly, 
maintaining an erect attitude until he is about to 
land, when, as in jumping, the knees are bent slightly 
to break the force of landing. During the flight 
the skis should be kept perfectly parallel but droop- 
ing slightly behind. 



WW: i 




WINTER SPORTS 223 

The various forms of coasting with toboggan 
sleds and bobsleds are all well known to boys 
who live where there are snow and hills. A sled can 
be steered either by dragging the foot or by shifting 
the sled with the hands. Sleds with flexible runners 
have recently been introduced and are a great im- 
provement on the old type. 

One branch of carpenter work that nearly all 



,^v^ii^^,,... . _^_ 




A bobsled or double runner 

boys attempt at some time in their lives is to make a 
bobsled or double runner, which is a pair of sleds 
fastened on either end of a board long enough to 
hold from three to twenty or thirty people. 

Coasting, especially with a bob, is somewhat dan- 
gerous sport, especially in cities or where the turns 
are sharp and there is danger of upsetting. A good 
bob is broad between the runners and low to the 
ground. The drawing shows one that almost any 
boy can make at little cost. Various devices are 



224 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

used as brakes on a bob. Most of them are found 
to be out of order or frozen when the time comes to 
use them. A brake that is made from a piece of iron 
bent in an angle and fastened to the side of the run- 
ners on the rear sled is the best arrangement to have. 
A bobsled should not cost over ten dollars complete 
with steering wheel, bell, and necessary iron work, 
which should be made at the blacksmith's. 



XIII 

HORSEMANSHIP 

How to become a good rider — The care of a horse — Saddles 

SO MANY branches of outdoor sport depend 
on a knowledge of horsemanship that 
every boy or girl who has the opportunity 
should learn to ride horseback. When once ac- 
quired, we shall never forget it. The first few lessons 
will make us feel discouraged, because the jolting 
and jarring every one receives in learning to ride 
almost make it appear that we can never acquire 
the knack, but remember that even the cowboy has 
had to go through the same experience. A beginner 
should only ride a gentle horse. In case we do take 
a tumble, it is well to take our first lesson on soft 
ground or in a tanbark ring. 

There are three types of saddles generally used: 
The English saddle is simply a leather seat with 
stirrups, and while it is the most refined type and 
the one used for fox hunting and all expert riding 
in England, it is not the best kind to learn on. 

225 



226 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

The army saddle and the Mexican or cowboy saddle 
with a pommel or box-stirrups are far safer and less 
expensive. If you know of a dealer in second-hand 
army equipments you can buy a saddle and bridle 
of excellent material at less than half the retail 
price of the stores. 

Before mounting your horse always examine care- 





Mexican saddle Army saddle English saddle 

fully your saddle and bridle to see that the girths 
are tight, that the bridle is properly buckled, and the 
stirrups are the proper length. The latter is some- 
times determined by placing the stirrup under the 
armpits and touching the saddle with the finger tips. 
A more accurate way is to have the straps adjusted 
after you are in the saddle. A beginner will prefer 
a short stirrup, but it is a bad habit to acquire. In 
mounting, stand on the left side and place the left 



HORSEMANSHIP 227 

foot in the stirrup. Swing the right leg over the 
horse and find the right stirrup with the toe just 
as quickly as possible. Do not jerk a restless horse 
or otherwise betray your excitement if he starts. 
Let him see by your calmness that he too should be 
calm. 

So much depends on the kind of horse you are 
riding that it will be difficult to say just how to 
handle him. A horse that is ''bridle wise" is not 
guided in the customary way; that is, by pulling on 
the rein on the side you wish him to turn as one does 
in driving. A bridle-wise horse is guided by pressing 
the opposite rein against his neck. Such a horse 
is much easier to handle on horseback and we should 
try to teach our horse this method as soon as possible. 

There is very close understanding between a 
horse and rider that does not exist when a horse is 
driven to a carriage. A horse can be guided simply 
by the leg pressure or spur. The proper seat is 
well back in the saddle with the toe pointing almost 
straight ahead. In order to learn to ride quickly 
we must overcome any strain or tension of our mus- 
cles and try to be flexible above the waist. In this 
way we soon accommodate our own motion to that 
of the horse. The most difficult gait to ride is the 
trot. There are two distinct styles of riding — to 



228 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

trot in English style of treading the stirrups, which 
necessitates rising from the saddle at every step of 
the horse, and the army style of simply sitting back 
in the saddle and taking the jouncing. Either 




The wrong way to mount a horse — facing forward 

method will prove very difficult for the beginner. 
A partial treading or easing up but not as extreme 
as the English style will probably be the best to 
acquire. So much depends upon the gait of a horse 
that we learn to ride some horses in a very few days, 
and would be several times as long with some others. 



HORSEMANSHIP 229 

A horse that habitually stumbles is very dangerous. 
We must be sure our saddle horse is sure footed. 
In using English stirrups never permit the foot to go 




The right way to mount — facing toward his tail 

through the stirrup and rest on the ball. The toes 
should be in such a position that the stirrups can 
be kicked oflE at an instant's notice in case the horse 
falls with us. 

In tying a saddle horse in the stable for feeding 



230 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

or rest always loosen the girth and throw the stirrups 
over the saddle. 

A saddle horse should always be spoken to gently 
but firmly. The horse can tell by your voice when 
you are afraid of him. 

The canter is the ideal gait. After we once learn 
it, the motion of a good saddle horse is almost 
like a rocking chair and riding becomes one of the 
most delightful of outdoor pastimes. The boy who 
expects to go on an extended trip in the saddle should 
learn to care for a horse himself. A horse should 
never be fed or watered when he is warm unless we 
continue to drive him immediately afterward. Neg- 
lect of this precaution may cause "foundering,'* 
which has ruined many a fine horse. 

The art of packing a horse is one which every one 
in mountain countries away from railroads should 
understand. Packing a horse simply means tying 
a load over his back. There are a great many 
hitches used for this purpose by Western mountain- 
eers, but the celebrated diamond hitch will answer 
most purposes. 

Hunting and steeplechasing, leaping fences and 
ditches, are the highest art of horsemanship. It 
is difiicult to teach an old horse to be a hunter, but 
with a young one you can soon get him to take a 



HORSEMANSHIP 231 

low obstacle or narrow ditch, and by gradually 
increasing the distance make a jumper of him. 
The popularity of automobiles has caused the 




Jumping fences is the highest art of horsemanship 

present generation partially to lose interest in horse- 
flesh, but no automobile ever made will furnish 
the real bond of friendship which exists be- 
tween a boy and his horse, or will be a substitute 



232 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

for the pleasure that comes from a stiflF canter on 
the back of our friend and companion. 

We do not really need an expensive horse. A 
typical Western or polo pony is just the thing for 
a boy or girl provided that it has no vicious or 
undesirable traits such as kicking, bucking, or stum- 
bling, or is unsound or lame. It is always better if 
possible to buy a horse from a reliable dealer or a 
private owner. There is a great deal of dishonesty 
in horse trading and an honest seller who has nothing 
to conceal should be willing to grant a fair trial of 
a week or more. 

To enjoy our horse to the fullest extent we should 
take entire care of him ourselves. He should be fed 
and watered regularly and groomed every morning 
until his coat shines. If we neglect a horse and 
allow his coat to become rough it is almost as bad 
as to neglect feeding him. Never trust the care of 
your horse too much to another. Even if you keep 
him in a public stable or have a man of your own to 
care for him, it is well to let them see that you are 
interested in giving your horse close personal atten- 
tion. 



XIV 

HOW TO SWIM AND TO CANOE 

The racing strokes — Paddling and sailing canoes 

IT HAS been said that the human being is 
the only animal that does not know instinc- 
tively how to swim without the necessity 
of being taught. If we take a dog or a horse or 
even a mouse and suddenly place it in the water it 
will immediately begin to swim, even though it has 
never seen a body of water larger than the source 
from which it obtains its drink. With a man or 
boy it is different, for the reason that with all the 
other animals the motions necessary to swim are 
those by which they walk or run ; with a human being 
it is entirely an acquired stroke. After one becomes 
an expert swimmer he will find that he can keep 
afloat or at least keep his head above water, which 
is all there is to swimming anyway, by almost any 
kind of a motion. By a little practice we can learn 
to swim ''no hands," ''no feet," *' one hand and one 
foot," by all sorts of twists and squirms and in fact 
to propel ourselves by a simple motion of the toes. 

233 



234 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

The first stroke that a self-taught small boy learns 
is what is called "dog fashioned." This name 
accurately describes the stroke, as it is in reality very 
similar to the motions by which a dog swims. No 
amount of book instruction can teach a person to 
swim, but a clear idea of the best general strokes will 
be of great assistance. 

Swimming is probably the best general exercise 
among athletic sports. Practically every important 
muscle in the body is brought into play, and measure- 
ments show that swimmers have the most uniform 
muscular development of any class of athletes. 
After we learn to swim, the distance that we are 
capable of going is largely dependent upon our 
physical strength. Almost any man can swim a 
mile if he begins slowly and with the same regard for 
conserving his strength that a runner would have 
in attempting a mile run. 

However skillful one is as a swimmer, a proper 
respect for the dangers of the sport should always 
be present. To take unnecessary risks, such as 
swimming alone far beyond reach of help or jumping 
and diving from high places into water of uncertain 
depth is not bravery; it is simply foolhardiness. A 
good swimmer is a careful swimmer always. The 
beginner must first of all try to overcome his natural 




o 

tn 

v 



HOW TO SWIM AND TO CANOE 235 

fear of the water. This is much harder to do than 
to learn the simple motions of hands or feet that 
makes us keep afloat and swim. Nothing will help 
to give us this confidence more quickly than to take 
a few lessons from some one in whom we have con- 
fidence and who will above all things not frighten us 
and so get us into danger. With a good teacher, a boy 
should be able to learn how to swim in two or three 
lessons. Of course he will take only a few strokes 
at first, but those few strokes, which carry with them 
self-confidence and which make us feel that swim- 
ming is not so hard an art after all, is really half the 
battle. After we are at least sure that we can get 
to shore somehow, we can take up all the finished 
strokes which make a fancy swimmer. 

There are a number of strokes used in swimming 
and especially in racing. The common breast 
stroke is the first one to learn. In this the swimmer 
should lie flat on his breast in the water and either 
be supported by the hand of his teacher or by an 
inflated air cushion. The hands are principally 
used to maintain the balance and to keep afloat. 
The real work should be done with the legs. We 
learn to use the hands properly in a very short time, 
but the beginner always shows a tendency to forget 
to kick properly. For this reason swimming teachers 



236 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

lay great stress on the leg motion and in a measure 
let the hands take care of themelves. In swimming 
the important thing is to keep our heads above the 
water, a simple statement, but one that beginners 
may take a long time to learn. The impulse is 
not only to keep our heads but our shoulders out 
of the water also, and this is a feat that even an 
expert can not accomplish for very long. If we can 
allow ourselves to sink low in the water without 
fear, and if we can also remember to kick and, above 
all, to make our strokes slowly and evenly, we shall 
very soon learn to swim. I have frequently seen 
boys learn to swim in a single afternoon. Another 
tendency of the beginner is to hold his breath 
while swimming. Of course we cannot swim very 
far or exert ourselves unless we can breathe. We 
should take a breath at each stroke, inhaling though 
the mouth and exhaling through the nose, which 
is just the opposite to the hygienic method of land 
breathing. Whatever may be our methods, however, 
the main thing is not to forget to breathe, which 
always results in finishing our five or ten strokes 
out of breath and terrified. 

A great deal may be learned about swimming 
strokes by practice on land. In fact some swimming 
teachers always follow the practice of teaching the 



HOW TO SWIM AND TO CANOE 237 

pupil ashore how to make the stroke and how to 
breathe correctly. A small camp stool or a box 
will give us the support we need. The three things 
to keep in mind are the leg motion and the taking 
in of the breath through the mouth as the arms are 
being drawn in and exhaling as they are pushed for- 
ward. It is better to learn to swim in salt water, 
for the reason that it will support the body better. 
An additional advantage is that we always feel more 
refreshed after a salt-water bath. 

If we take up fast swimming, we must learn one 
of the various overhand or overarm strokes. The 
chief diflference between these strokes and the 
simple breast stroke is that the arms as well as the 
legs are used to propel the body through the water, 
and this power is applied so steadily and uniformly 
that instead of moving by jerks we move with a 
continuous motion and at a greater speed. The 
single overarm is easier to learn than the double 
overarm or " trudgeon " stroke. This latter stroke is 
very tiring and while undoubtedly faster than any 
other when once mastered, it is only used for short 
sprints. Most of the great swimmers have devel- 
oped peculiar strokes of their own, but nearly all of 
them have adopted a general style which may be 
called the "crawl." 



238 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

There are many fancy strokes in swimming that 
one may acquire by practice, all of which require 
close attention to form rather than speed, just as 
fancy skating is distinguished from racing. One 
of the simplest tricks to learn is called "the rolling 
log." We take a position just as we would in float- 
ing and then exerting the muscles first of one side 
and then the other we shall find that we can roll over 
and over just as a log might roll. The idea in per- 
forming this trick successfully is not to show any 
apparent motion of the muscles. 

Swimming on the back is easily learned and is 
not only a pretty trick but 
is very useful in giving us 
an opportunity to rest on a 
long swim. 

Diving is also a branch of 
swimming that requires con- 
fidence rather than lessons. 
A dive is simply a plunge 
head first into the water. A 
graceful diver plunges with 
as little splash as possible. 
It is very bad form either to 
A perfect dive ^^^j^j ^^^ kuccs or to Strike on 

the stomach, the latter being a kind of dive for which 




HOW TO SWIM AND TO CANOE 239 

boys have a very expressive though not elegant name. 
Somersaults and back dives from a stationary take- 
oflF or from a spring-board are very easily learned. 
We shall probably have a few hard splashes until 
we learn to turn fully over, but there is not much 
danger of injury if we are sure of landing in the water. 

Water wings and other artificial supports are 
very useful for the beginner until he has mastered 
the strokes, but all such artificial devices should be 
given up just as soon as possible, and, furthermore, 
as soon as we can really swim, in order to gain 
confidence, we should go beyond our depth, where 
it will be necessary to swim or drown. 

A swimmer should always know how to assist 
another to shore in case of accident. It is not 
nearly so easy as one who has never tried it might 
think. A drowning person will for the time being 
be panic-stricken and the first impulse will be to 
seize us about the neck. Always approach a drown- 
ing person from the rear and support him under an 
armpit, meanwhile talking to him and trying to 
reassure him. Every year we hear of terrible drown- 
ing accidents which might have been avoided if 
some one in the party had kept his head and had been 
able to tell the others what to do. 

I have placed canoeing and swimming in the same 



240 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

chapter because the first word in canoeing is never 
go until you can swim. There is practically no 
diflference between the shape of the modern canoe 
and the shape of the Indian birch bark canoes which 
were developed by the savages in America hundreds 
of years ago. All the ingenuity of white men has 
failed to improve on this model. A canoe is one 
of the most graceful of water craft and, while it 
is regarded more in the light of a plaything by 



A typical Indian model canoe 

people in cities, it is just as much a necessity to the 
guides and trappers of the great Northern country 
as a pony is to the cowboy and the plainsman. 
The canoe is the horse and wagon of the Maine 
woodsman and in it he carries his provisions and his 
family. 

While a canoe is generally propelled by paddles, 
a pole is sometimes necessary to force it upstream, 
especially in swift water. In many places the 
sportsman is forced to carry his canoe around water- 
falls and shallows for several miles. For this reason 
a canoe must be as light as possible without too 
great a sacrifice of strength. The old styles of 
canoes made of birch bark, hollow logs, the skins of 



HOW TO SWIM AND TO CANOE 241 

animals and so on have practically given way to the 
canvas-covered cedar or basswood canoes of the 
Canadian type. 

It will scarcely pay the boy to attempt to make 
his own canoe, as the cost of a well-made eighteen- 
foot canoe of the type used by professional hunters 
and trappers is but thirty dollars. With care a 




A sailing canoe in action 

canoe should last its owner ten years. It will be 
necessary to protect it from the weather when not 
in use and frequently give it a coat of paint or 
spar varnish. 

Sailing canoes are built after a different model 



242 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

from paddling canoes. They usually are decked 
over and simply have a cockpit. They are also 
stronger and much heavier. Their use is limited 
to more open water than most of the rivers and lakes 
of Maine and Canada. Cruising canoes are made 
safer if watertight air chambers are built in the ends. 

Even if a canoe turns over it does not sink. Some 
experts can right a capsized canoe and clamber in 
over the side even while swimming in deep water. 
The seaworthiness of a canoe depends largely upon 
its lines. Some canoes are very cranky and others 
can stand a lot of careless usage without capsizing. 
One thing is true of all, that accidents occur far more 
often in getting in and out of a canoe than in the 
act of sailing it. It is always unsafe to stand in a 
canoe or to lean far out of it to pick lilies or to reach 
for floating objects. 

Canoes may be propelled by either single or double 
paddles, but the former is the sportman's type. 
It is possible to keep a canoe on a straight course 
entirely by paddling on one side and merely shifting 
to rest, but the beginner may have some difficulty 
in acquiring the knack of doing this, which consists 
of turning the paddles at the end of the stroke 
to make up the amount that the forward stroke 
deflects the canoe from a straight course. 



HOW TO SWIM AND TO CANOE 243 

An open canoe for paddling does not require a 
rudder. A sailing canoe, however, will require a 
rudder, a keel, and a centreboard as well. Canoe 
sailing is an exciting and dangerous sport. In order 




A type of sailing canoe 

to keep the canoe from capsizing, a sliding seat or 
outrigger is used, upon which the sailor shifts his 
position to keep the boat on an even keel. The 
centreboard is so arranged that it can be raised or 
lowered by means of a line. 



XV 

BASEBALL 

How to organize a team and to select the players — The 
various positions — Curve pitching 

BASEBALL is called the National Game of 
America just as cricket is regarded as the 
national game in England. The game 
received its wide popularity directly after the Civil 
War by the soldiers who returned to all parts of 
the country and introduced the game that they had 
learned in camp. Almost every village and town has 
its ball team, in which the interest is general. It is 
not a game for middle-aged men to play, like golf, 
but if one has been a ball player in youth the chances 
are that he will keep his interest in the game through 
life. Baseball is largely a game of skill. It does 
not afford nearly as much opportunity for physical 
exercise as tennis or football, and because of the 
professional games it is not always conducted with 
as high a regard for sportsmanlike conduct, but it 
has a firm hold on the American public, and the win- 

244 



BASEBALL 245 

ning of a championship series in the professional 
leagues is almost a national event. 

Every boy knows that a baseball team consists 
of nine players, the positions being pitcher, catcher, 
first base, second base, third base, and shortstop, 
which are called the in-field, and right-field, 
centre-field, and left-field, which positions are called 
the out-field. The umpire has a very important 
position in baseball, as his decisions in a close game 
may result either in defeat or victory for a team. 
An umpire should always be some one who knows 
the rules thoroughly and who is not too greatly 
interested in either team. He should always try 
to be fair, and having once made a decision be sure 
enough of himself to hold to it even if the whole 
opposing team may try by "kicking" to cause him to 
change. Much of the rowdyism in baseball can 
be attributed to this cause. A good ball play- 
er is first of all a boy or man who shows him- 
self to be a gentleman under all circumstances. 

In baseball, like many games where win- 
ning is sometimes the important thing rather 
than fair play, the real benefits of the game 
are lost sight of in the desire to have a higher 
score than one's opponents. Probably the most 
clean-cut games are played by school and 




The in-curve 



246 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

college teams, which should always be strictly 
amateur. 

The pitcher has the most important position on the 

team. If by his 
skill he is able to 
deceive the oppos- 
ing batsmen and 
cause them to 
strike out or to 
make feeble hits, 
the rest of the 
team will have but 
little to do except 
of course to bat 
when their turn 
comes and try to 
score runs. Base- 
ball has become a 
very scientific 
game i n recent 
years and the 
sustained interest 
in it year after year is largely due to the fact that 
the regular attendants at a game have learned to 
understand and to appreciate the finer points of 
the game almost as well as the players them- 




The out-curve 



BASEBALL 247 

selves. While it might appear to a beginner 
that the battery does all the work in a game, as a 
matter of fact every man on the nine is supposed to 
do his part in backing up every play and to be in 
the right place at 
the right time. 

A good pitcher 
must be able to 
pitch a curved ball. 
This art will only 
come with con- 
s t a n t practice. 
Until about forty 
years ago a curve 
was unknown. 
In the old days the 
number of runs 
scored in a game 
was very high, it 
being a common 
thing for a winning 
team to make 
twenty to thirty runs. The rules of baseball are 
changed frequently and almost every change has 
been made with a view to restricting the bats- 
man. As a consequence, in modern games the 




The drop 




The out-drop 



248 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

scores are very low and sometimes neither side 
will score a single run in a tie game of ten or twelve 
innings. 

In modern baseball a team that plays together 
frequently has a prearranged code of signals that are 
understood by each member of the team. It is 
very important for every player on a side to know 
whether the pitcher intends to deliver a high or a 
low ball or one that may either be batted well into the 
out-field or probably be a grounder that will be taken 
care of by some one on the in-field. Of course these 
things do not always work out as is planned. The 
pitcher may not have good control of the ball or 
pitch wild, the catcher may make a bad "muff" 
and let the ball get by him, or what we expect to 
be a bunted ball may be a home run, but all of this 
is part of the sport and helps to make baseball one 
of the most interesting and exciting of games. In 
any case there is no question that nine boys who are 
accustomed to play together and who understand 
each other's methods of play and signals will have a 
better chance of winning a close game than nine 
other players who may have a shade the better 
of it in individual work but who do not play together. 

Most games are won or lost in a single instant at 
a crucial moment when some one fails to make good, 



BASEBALL 249 

or who, usually in the case of a pitcher, lets up on 
his speed or accuracy just at the critical time. 
The National Championship of 1908 was decided 
in favour of Chicago because one of New York's 
players in the deciding game of the season failed 
to touch second base when the last man was out. 
The game had been won by New York except for 
this mistake, and the result was that another game 
was played, which Chicago won before the largest 
crowd that probably ever assembled to witness a 
game of baseball. 

When a baseball team is organized, the first 
thing to do is to elect a captain from one of the 
players, and after this is decided every boy on the 
team should give him absolute support and obedience. 
A team should also have a manager whose duties 
are to arrange games with other teams of the same 
class, to arrange for the transportation of players and, 
in fact, to attend to all the business duties of games 
that come outside of actual playing. Usually a 
boy is chosen for manager who is not a ball player 
himself, but who has shown an interest in the team. 
The captain should be a boy who first of all knows 
the game and who has the respect and cooperation 
of the other players. The position that he may 
play on the team is not so important, but usually 



250 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

it is better to have some one from the in-field as cap- 
tain, as he will be in a better position to keep close 
watch on the progress of the game and to give 
directions to the other players. 

In case of a disputed point it is better to allow 
your captain to make a protest if such is necessary. 
Observance of this rule will prevent much of the 
rowdyism that has characterized the game of base- 
ball. No boy should ever attempt to win games by 
unfair tactics. The day of tripping, spiking, and 
holding is gone. If you are not able by your play- 
ing to hold up your end on a ball team you had 
better give up the game and devote your attention 
to something that you can do without being guilty of 
rowdyism. 

Strict rules of training are not as necessary for 
baseball players as for some other branches of 
sport, because the game is not so strenuous nor does 
it involve such sustained physical exertion, but any 
boy will make a better ball player as well as a better 
man if he observes the rules of training, such as 
early hours for retiring, simple food, and regular 
systematic exercise. 

The battery of a team is an exception to the rule 
regarding strict training. Both the pitcher and 
catcher should be in the best physical condition. 



BASEBALL 251 

A pitcher who stands up for nine innings is obliged 
to do a tremendous amount of work and if he becomes 
tired or stiff toward the end of the game he will 
probably be at the mercy of the opposing batsmen. 

Usually the pitcher of a team is a boy who is 
physically strong and who can stand hard work. 
The other positions, however, are usually assigned 
because of the build of the individual player. The 
pitcher, however, may be tall or short, fat or thin, 
so long as he can pitch. 

The pitcher is the most important member of 
a ball team. Most of the work falls to him, and a 
good pitcher, even with a comparatively weak team 
behind him, can sometimes win games where a good 
team with a weak pitcher would lose. A good 
pitcher must first of all have a cool head and keep 
his nerve even under the most trying circumstances. 
He must also have good control of the ball and 
be able to pitch it where he wants it to go. After 
that he must have a knowledge of curves and know 
how by causing the ball to spin in a certain way 
to cause it to change its course and thus to deceive 
the batsman. The art of curving a ball was dis- 
covered in 1867. Before that time all that a pitcher 
needed was a straight, swift delivery. The three 
general classes of curved balls used to-day are the 



252 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

out-curve, the in-eurve, and the drop. There are 
also other modifications called "the fade away," 
"the spitball," and others. Curve pitching will 
only come with the hardest kind of practice. 

In general the spin is given to the ball by a certain 
use of the fingers and the method of releasing it. 
It is necessary to conceal your intentions from the 
batsman in preparing to deliver a curve or he will 
divine your intention and the effort may be wasted. 
All curves are produced by a snap of the wrist at 
the instant of releasing the ball. Excellent practice 
may be had in curving by pitching at a post from a 
sixty-foot mark and watching to see the effect of 
various twists and snaps. Pitching is extremely 
hard on the arm and practice should be very light 
at first until the muscles become hardened. Even 
the best professional pitchers are not worked as 
a rule oftener than two or three games a week. 

A good baseball captain always tries to develop 
several pitchers from his team. It is of course very de- 
sirable to have a " star pitcher " who can be depended 
on, but if the star should happen to be ill or to injure 
his fingers on a hot liner or for some reason cannot 
play, unless there is a substitute, the effect of his 
absence on his team will be to demoralize it. 
For that reason every encouragement should be 



BASEBALL 253 

given to any boy who wants to try his hand at 
pitching. If a game is well in hand it is usually 
safe to put in a substitute pitcher to finish it. This 
is done in college teams for the reason that no amount 
of practice is quite like playing in an actual game. 

It may be said to guide the beginner that the 
method of producing curves varies greatly with 
different pitchers, but that in general the out-curv^ 
is produced by grasping the ball with the first and 
second fingers and the thumb. The grip for this 
curve should be tight and the back of the hand turned 
downward. The out-curve can be produced either 
with a fast ball or a slow one. 

For the in-curve a swinging sidearm motion is 
used, the ball being released over the tips of the 
first two fingers with a snap to set it spinning. It 
may also be produced by releasing the ball over all 
four fingers. 

The grip of the ball for the drop is very similar 
to the out-curve, but in delivery the hand is brought 
almost directly over the shoulder. In all curves 
the pitcher must have extremely sensitive fingers 
and be able to control them with almost as much 
skill as one requires in playing a piano. We must 
keep in mind which way we desire the ball to spin 
to produce the required curve and then to give it 



254 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

just as much of this spin as we can without inter- 
fering with our accuracy. 

No two pitchers will have the same form or manner 
of delivery. In learning to pitch, the main thing is 
to adopt the delivery that seems most natural to 
you without especial regard to form, and with no 
unnecessary motions. 

A pitcher must always be on the alert and keep 
a close watch on the bases when they are oc- 
cupied. He must not, however, allow the remarks 
of coacher or spectators to cause him to become 
rattled or confused. Baseball at best is a noisy 
game, and a pitcher who is sensitive to outside 
remarks or joshing will never be a real success. 

The catcher is usually a short, stocky player with 
a good reach and a quick, accurate throw. He is 
usually the acting general in a game and signals 
to the whole team. The principal test of a good 
catcher is to be able to make a quick, swift throw 
to second base without being obliged to draw his 
arm fully back. Such a ball is snapped from the 
wrist and should be aimed to catch the base runner 
who is attempting to steal the base. This play is 
very common in ball games, and as there is only a 
diflference of an instant in the time that it takes a 
runner to go from first base to second, who starts 



BASEBALL ^55 

just as the pitcher delivers the ball, and the time it 
takes a pitched ball to be caught by the catcher and 
snapped to second, a game may be won or lost just 
on this play alone. If the opposing team finds that 
it can make second in safety by going down with 
the pitcher's arm, it will surely take full advantage 
of the knowledge. To have a man on second is 
disconcerting to the pitcher as well as a difficult 
man to handle. It therefore follows that a catcher 
who cannot throw accurately to the bases becomes 
a serious disadvantage to his team. In the old days 
a catcher had to be able to catch either with bare 
hand or with a light glove, but the modern catcher's 
mitt, mask, chest-protector, and shin-guards make 
the position far safer, and almost any boy who is 
quick and has nerve can be trained to become a 
fairly good catcher so long as he has a good throw 
and is a good general. 

The first baseman is usually a tall boy who is 
active and who can cover his position both in reach- 
ing for high balls and in picking up grounders. 
Of course in a baseball score the first baseman will 
score the largest number of ''put outs," because 
practically all he is obliged to do is to cover the base 
and to catch the ball before the runner gets there. 
It is in fielding his position and in pulling down balls 



^56 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

that are thrown wildly that the first baseman can 
show his chief skill. 

The positions of second base and shortstop are 
practically the same, and these two players should 
understand each other perfectly and know just 
when to cover the base and when to back up the 
other. Neglect of this precaution often results 
in the most stupid errors, which are discouraging alike 
to the team and the spectators. Both players 
should be quick and active, with an ability to throw 
both over and under handed as well as to toss the 
ball after picking it up on the run. The 
shortstop is often the smallest man on a team, due 
no doubt to the theory that his work is largely in 
picking up grounders. 

The shortstop is often led into habits which are 
commonly known as "grand-stand plays"; that is, 
he attempts to make diflScult plays or one-handed 
stops with an unnecessary display of motions, to 
bring the applause of the spectators. No ball 
player was ever made by playing to the audience. 
Good form is not only very desirable but very 
necessary, but the main thing in ball playing is 
to play your part and to forget that there is such 
a thing as an audience or applause. If your form is 
good so much the better, but if by paying too much 



BASEBALL 257 

attention to it you miss the ball and score an error, 
your team may suflFer defeat on account of your pride. 
The main thing is to get the ball and after that to 
to do it as gracefully as possible. One-handed stops 
are well enough when you cannot get both hands 
on the ball, but an error made in this way is not only 
the most humiliating kind but also the most inex- 
cusable. 

It must not be inferred that grand-stand playing 
is confined to the shortstop. Any member of the 
team can be guilty of it. No player, no matter 
how good he may be, should be allowed to hold his 
position on a team unless he is willing to do his 
best at all times and unless he feels that the game 
is not lost nor won until the last man is out. 

Many experienced players consider that the most 
difficult position to play well is third base. This 
player has to be ready for slow bunts as well as hard 
drives; he must cover a lot of ground and try to 
get every ball that comes near him. At the same time 
he must cover his base to stop the base runner from 
advancing home. He will be obliged to stop hot 
liners with one hand and often while on the run to 
make an accurate throw to first base. 

Out-fielders are usually chosen because of their 
ability to bat as well as to be quick on their feet 



258 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

and catch fly balls on the run. Fielders should 
practise if possible to catch the ball in a throwing 
position, so that no unnecessary time may be lost 
in getting the ball back to the in-field. Of the three 
fielding positions, right-field is by far the most 
important. He must be sure of ground balls as 
well as flies and also, in common with all the fielders, 
be a good judge of the batsmen and try to be where 
the batted ball is going. The centre-fielder must be 
especially quick on his feet, as he is expected to back 
up both shortstop and second base as well as to run 
in for line hits that just go over the in-fielders' heads. 
The ability to start quickly when running for a ball 
can be greatly developed by practice and will greatly 
improve the player's game. 

Very often a fly ball will fall in such a position 
that the out-fielders will be in doubt who is to 
take it. The result is usually a collision, a missed 
ball and a chorus of groans from the spectators. 
The remedy for this is to arrange beforehand for 
the second baseman to call out who in the case of 
a doubtful ball is to take it. All of these things 
are part of the finer points of the game and will only 
come from practice. A boy who really desires to 
become proficient in his position will try to avoid 
changing from one position to another, but decide 



BASEBALL 259 

which position he Kkes to play best or is best fitted 
for and try to get all the practice possible. An 
excellent opportunity will come from studying the 
methods of a good player in the same position, 
noting carefully what he does on each play, how he 
backs up the other players and how he fits in the 
general plan of team work. 

It is a great advantage to any player to learn as 
much as he can about the skill and methods of his 
opponents. Some men cannot hit a low ball or 
a high one, some will flinch when the ball comes close 
to them, giving the pitcher a chance to deliver a 
straight, swift ball over the inside of the plate, which 
the umpire will call a strike even though the batsman 
devotes all of his energy to getting out of the 
way. 

A left-handed thrower will seldom make a success 
as a ball player except as pitcher or on first base. 
Left-handed batsmen, however, are a distinct ad- 
vantage to a team, as nothing will so disconcert a 
green pitcher as to have batsmen standing first on 
one side of the plate and then on the other. 

Every boy who plays baseball must know the 
rules thoroughly to be a success. It is in this way 
that advantage of every fair opportunity can be 
taken. Nothing is so disheartening to a team as 



260 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

to lose a closely contested game on a technicality of 
rules. 

Batting and base running are two departments 
of the game where one member of the team is as 
important as another. A good batsman must have 
a quick eye and a quick brain. When he decides 
to strike at a ball he must not change his mind and 
simply swing at it feebly after it is in the catcher's 
hands. The best batters are not those who hit the 
ball the hardest. Judgment in placing hits is far 
more important than trying to knock out a home 
run every time you are at the bat. You must 
remember that the pitcher is studying your batting 
methods and you must try just as hard to deceive 
him as he is trying to deceive you. Many a game 
has been won by a man who knew how to wait at 
the bat instead of swinging wildly at everything 
just for fear of having strikes called. 

When you hit the ball there is only one rule — 
run. You will very soon find out whether the ball 
is fair or foul or whether there is any chance of mak- 
ing first base. A base runner should never stop 
trying to make a base until the ball is in the hands 
of the baseman. One never can tell when a ball 
may be fumbled or muffed. 

A baseball diamond should be a part of a town 



BASEBALL 261 

just as is the public square or a town halL The 
distance between the bases should be ninety feet 
and the four base-Hnes should form a square and all 
the angles should be right angles. The three bases 
should be canvas bags filled v/ith sawdust and 
fastened to their positions by pegs that are driven 




How to lay out a baseball field 

into the ground. The home plate should if possible 
be a piece of whitened rubber. A board securely 
fastened will do. 

The pitcher's box should be denoted by a strip 
of wood or rubber 24 inches long and 6 inches wide. 



262 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

This and home plate should be buried so that they 
are flush with the surface of the field. The pitcher's 
box on a full-sized field is exactly 603/^ feet from 
home plate. 

The standard baseball is the kind used by pro- 
fessional players. It is covered with horsehide, 
and is warranted to last an entire game without 
ripping or getting out of shape. Baseball bats are 
made of a variety of woods, the common materials 
being ash, willow, and hickory. A bat must not 
exceed 2^ inches in thickness at its thickest part. 
There are a great many shapes and models named 
after the professional players who use them. The 
shape of a bat does not make as much diflference 
as some poor batters are inclined to think. The 
manufacturers of sporting goods make all the acces- 
sories for playing baseball both in men's and boys' 
sizes. Every ball player should own his own mitt 
or glove and become accustomed to it. The same 
is true of his bat. 

The art of becoming a good ball player depends 
largely on the boy himself. No one plays ball 
naturally. It all comes with practice, and it follows 
that the more practice we can get the better ball 
players we shall become. It is a game where a loss 
of nerve is absolutely fatal to good work. A player 



BASEBALL 263 

must keep his head no matter how trying the cir- 
cumstances may be. Cool-headedness is especially 
important and the surest way to develop it is to be 
just as indifferent to the criticism of the crowd or 
your fellow-players, so long as you know that you 
have done your best, as you should be to their ap- 
plause. Just play the game for all there is in it, 
and you will be sure to become a moderately good 
player even though you may not be a star. In 
field practice, when some one is batting out balls 
to you, try just as hard to stop and field each ball 
that comes within reach as you would if the result 
of the game depended on it. It is only by this 
means that you can hope to become a finished ball 
player. You can never learn by lying around in 
the shade and telling your friends how good you are 
going to be in the coming match game. 

A regularly organized ball team should always 
adopt some club colours and be provided with uni- 
forms. Very good ones complete with shirt, pants, 
stockings, belt, and cap can be purchased of sporting 
goods outfitters for two or three dollars a suit (when 
ordered in lots of nine or more). They can also 
sometimes be made more cheaply at home if mothers 
and sisters are willing. The shirt should always 
be lettered with the name or initials of the team. 



264 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

Baseball shoes are usually provided with steel plates 
or leather knobs. Spikes are very dangerous and 
should not be permitted. The regulation baseball 
shoe reaches just under the instep. 

The rules of baseball are too long and complicated 
to be published here. Almost every year many 
important changes are made to improve the sport 
and to make it harder for the batsmen to make runs. 
All of this tends to make the game more interesting 
and to develop it from a scientific side. 

When a team is playing away from its home 
grounds the choice of innings — i. e., who is to bat 
first — goes to the home team. 

A game consists of nine full innings unless called by 
rain, darkness or for some other cause. If five complete 
innings have been played when the game stops, the 
score always stands and the team ahead is declared 
the winner. In case of a tie at the end of the game 
the play continues until at the completion of a full 
inning one team is ahead. That ends the game and 
the team ahead is the winner. 

In arranging games with visiting teams it is cus- 
tomary to make some arrangement as to expenses, 
share of gate receipts or other guarantee. It is 
very important in order to avoid unpleasant dis- 
putes to have this matter fully understood and agreed 



BASEBALL 265 

upon by the managers of each team before the 
game starts. 

On account of fences, houses, and other obstacles 
that some baseball fields have it is customary for 
the umpire to decide what are called "ground rules" 
before the game starts. The principal thing that 
mars a good game of ball next to kicking and wrang- 
ling is the tendency of the crowd to get on the field 
and to interfere with the players. An easy remedy 
for this is simply to call the game until the spectators 
take their proper places. 

Baseball is a good game if it is properly played. 
It is unfortunate that so many amateur games are 
spoiled because some of the players lose their tempers 
in their anxiety to have their wrongs righted. No 
matter how good a ball player a boy is he will never 
get the real benefit of the game unless he remembers 
that it is not the one who loses his temper but "he 
who ruleth his spirit" that is really entitled to the 
respect of his fellows. Make up your mind to 
abide by the decision of the umpire just as a soldier 
obeys the orders of his superior officer. It is the 
easiest thing in the world for an umpire to make a 
mistake, but he will be far less likely to correct his 
errors if nine angry boys are all talking to him at 
once than if your captain quietly goes to him with 



me OUTDOOR sports 

the rules or the facts behind him and states the case. 
It is an old saying but none the less true that **oil 
catches more flies than vinegar." 

A boy who has developed a healthy interest in 
baseball while young will probably never lose it 
in after life even though his opportunities to play 
or even to see a game are few. I once met a mining 
man in the interior of Mexico, a hundred miles from 
a railroad and in a town where only three people 
spoke the English language, and this man had not 
been to his home town in ten years, but he had 
followed his baseball team through the papers all 
those years and could tell you more about the players 
than many a man living in the town where the team 
played. 

Such a man is what the newspapers call a "fan," 
which is an abbreviation of the word "fanatic." 
There is no harm in being a baseball enthusiast, 
provided that we do not allow it to interfere with 
our work or allow our desire to witness games to 
take the place of systematic exercise for ourselves. 



XVI 

HOW TO PLAY FOOTBALL 

The various positions and how to select men for them — Team 
work and signals — The rules 

FOOTBALL is usually played in the fall 
of the year because the exercise- that 
it involves is so violent that to at- 
tempt it at any other time would probably 
result in injury to the players. The cool, 
frosty days of October and November make 
baseball out of season, and such weather is ideal 
for football. 

So much has been said and written about the 
dangers of football as a sport that many parents 
have strong objections to permitting their sons to 
play. There is no question that it is a hard 
game and not suited to weaklings, but a strong, 
healthy boy can play football under proper condi- 
tions and with proper training quite as safely as he 
can do many other things to which parents raise 
no objections, such as wrestling, climbing trees, 
playing hockey, or even performing difficult feats 

267 



268 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

of gymnastics or acrobatics in a gymnasium. 
Every year there are a number of serious accidents 
from football, but there are also injuries from other 
games, and people are injured who play no games 
at all, so it simply is a question whether we are 
willing to take the chances of a sprained ankle or 
broken bone for the love of one of the best of out- 
door sports. 

The recent changes in rules have made football 




The lineup 

a much safer game than it was in the early nineties, 
when such plays as the ''flying wedge " and line buck- 
ing were practically all there was to the game. 
To any one who does not understand football it 
seems as though it were played with practically 
no science and with but few rules. As a matter of 
fact a well-coached college team will sometimes have 
sixty or seventy separate plays each of which has 
been carefully practised and which requires each 



HOW TO PLAY FOOTBALL 269 

man on the team to do something to help make 
the play successful, while on the other hand 
each man on the opposing team is doing his 
best to cause the play to fail. The result to 
any one not understanding the game is sim- 
ply a confused mass of struggling men and 
a final tumble with a pile of legs and arms fly- 
ing about. 

The American game of football called 
Rugby is a development of the English game, 
but the present game is very different from the 
English game of soccer or association football, 
in which kicking predominates and where a 
round ball is used instead of the oval-shaped Amer- 
ican football. 

Numerous efforts have been made to introduce 
the game of soccer into this country, but the long 
popularity of the American game and the strong 
support that has been given to it by the colleges 
have prevented soccer from gaining much of a foot- 
hold. 

Football is played by two opposing teams of 
eleven men each. The positions are right and left 
end, right and left tackle, right and left guard, 
centre rush, quarter-back, right and left half-backs 
and full-back. 



270 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

The manner in which they Hne up is shown in the 
accompanying diagram. 



1. e. 1. 1. 1. g. c. r. g. r. t. r. e. 



q. 



l.h-b. r.h-b. 



f-b. 

The weight and size of the men on a football 
team largely govern the positions where they play. 
The centre rush and the two guards are usually 
the heaviest men on the team, as extra weight in 
the centre of the line is important to prevent what 
is called "bucking the centre." The two tackles 
should be strong, stocky players, not too tall, but 
still with suflBcient weight to enable them to keep 
their feet in a mass play and to offer strong re- 
sistance to a united attack on their position. They 
should also be quick and agile and be able to ad- 
vance the ball by rushing when called upon. The 
two ends must be fleet of foot and quick, sure 
tacklers. With the constant changes in football rules 
the position of end has become more and more 
important, until now a team with weak, slow ends is 
almost like a baseball team with a poor pitcher. 

Many people regard the position of quarter-back 



HOW TO PLAY FOOTBALL 271 

as the most important on the team. He is virtually 
the field captain. A good quarter-back must be an 
all around player of the highest order. He must 
first of all have a good head and be able to run off 
the plays of his team without confusion. He must 
keep his head under the most trying circumstances. 
He must watch for weak places in the opposing 
team and direct the play of his men against them. 
He must offer encouragement to his own team 
and be always on the alert to capture a fumbled 
ball, stop a runner who has eluded the tacklers 
or to catch a punt that may come within his reach. 
In nearly all the big college games the quarter- 
back is one of the star players. The nature of his 
many duties is such that he is forced to be a 
grand-stand player and to be conspicuous even 
though he may not desire to. In running back 
punts the quarter-back will often be used because 
he is sure in catching them, which is a matter of 
the greatest importance. And all of this work is 
required of a man who is usually the smallest, 
lightest man on the team and who alongside of 
the giant guards and centre sometimes looks like 
a pigmy. There is no higher honour in football 
than to be a good all around quarter-back. 

The half-backs are chosen because of their speed 



%m OUTDOOR SPORTS 

and their ability to advance the ball and to elude 
the tackling of the opposing team. They come 
in for a very large share of the work and must be 
boys of superior strength and agility. 

Next to the quarter-back the player of the 
greatest importance is full-back. His duty first of 
all is to attend to the kicking end of the game. 
For that reason he must practise constantly both 
with punts and drop kicks and be able to put the 
ball between the goal-posts from all angles and 
distances within reason. A great many games 
are won by a good drop kicker making a field goal 
atfa critical time, and such a man is of the highest 
value to a team. As drop kicking, like pitching in 
baseball, comes largely from practice, the captain or 
manager of a team should see to it that any member 
of his team who shows any ability at all in this 
department should be given every opportunity 
and encouragement to develop his skill. A good 
drop kicker can be used temporarily from almost 
any position in the line, whether he be guard, tackle 
or end. As a rule, however, the full-back is the 
player who does most of the kicking. He must 
also be a good line bucker and be able to gain the 
required distance when called upon. 

In general, then, we choose the three centre men 



HOW TO PLAY FOOTBALL 273. 

because of their weight, the tackles and ends for 
speed and ability in tackling, the quarter- back for 
his all around ability and his generalship, the half- 
backs because of their skill in rushing the ball, 
and the full-back for the kicking department. Any 
man on the team may be chosen captain. As his 
work is largely done in practice and in perfecting 
plays, unless a team is in the hands of a coach it 
is better not to add the duties of captain to the 







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A football gridiron 

already overburdened quarter-back. Otherwise he 
is the logical and ideal man for the position. 

There is no game in which team work is more 
important than in football. Eleven boys of 
moderate ability and comparative light weight 
who can execute their plays with skill and precision 



274 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

can beat a team of heavier boys or superior players 
who may lack their skill and organization. In 
the case of a school team it is almost always possible 
to secure the services of a coach from among the 
graduates. If such a one has had experience on a 
college team so much the better. 

A football field is 330 feet long by 160 feet wide. 
At each end are goal posts set 18 feet 6 inches apart, 
with a crossbar 10 feet above the ground. The field 
is marked off in chalk lines similar to a tennis court, 
these lines being 5 yards apart. The centre of the 
field where the play starts is 55 yards from either 
end. It is usually customary to run lines parallel 
to the sides of the field, also 5 yards apart, but as 
a field is but 160 feet wide the first and last of these 
lines are but 5 feet from the side lines instead of 
5 yards. The lines on a football field make a checker- 
board effect and have given to the field the name of 
*' gridiron." 

Football is a game where eleven men try to force 
the ball back of the opposing players' goal line by 
various efforts in running with it or in kicking, 
while the opposing team meanwhile, by throwing 
the runner or by pushing him back, try to prevent 
any gain being made. Each team is allowed 
a certain number of attempts to make a certain 



HOW TO PLAY FOOTBALL 275 

distance and, if they fail to do this the ball becomes 
the property of the other team to make a similar 
attempt. Each of these attempts is called a '' down," 
and, according to the rules, after three attempts, 
if the runners have failed to gain the required 
distance, the ball is given to their opponents. In 
practice it is customary for a team to kick the ball 
on its last down and thus to surrender it just as 
far from its own goal line as possible. The dis- 
tance that must be made in three downs according 
to the present rules is ten yards. Sometimes a 
team will not kick on its last down because the dis- 
tance remaining to be gained is so little that the 
quarter-back feels sure that one of his men can make 
it, but this is an exception. When ten or more 
yards are gained the ball becomes at first down 
again and the team has three more attempts to 
make another ten yards figured from where the ball 
was finally downed. 

The ultimate object of ''rushing the ball," as this 
play is called, is to place it on the ground behind 
the enemy's goal line, which is called a "touchdown." 
Sometimes a team will succeed in getting the ball 
almost over the goal line and then because of the 
superior resistance of its opponents will find that 
it can advance it no further. It is then customary 



276 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

for one of the players who has had practice in drop 
kicking to attempt to kick what is called a *'goal 
from the field" or *' field goal." This play counts 
less than a touchdown in the score, counting but 
three points, while a touchdown counts five, but many 
a game has been won by a field goal. 

Football scores between evenly matched teams 
who play scientifically are usually low, one or two 
scores in a game being all that are made. It fre- 
quently happens that neither side will score, but, 
unlike baseball, the game does not continue after 
the time limit has expired, but simply becomes a tie 
game. The game is divided into four periods of 
fifteen minutes each. There are resting periods of 
three minutes each between the first and second 
and third and fourth periods, and fifteen minutes 
between the second and third periods. 

At the beginning of the game the two opposing 
captains toss up a coin and the winner of the toss 
has the choice of goals or of the ball. His decision 
will be governed by the position of the sun and the 
wind conditions, two very important things in foot- 
ball. After each score the sides change goals, 
however; so the choice is not so important unless 
the game happens to be scoreless. 

At the first play the ball is placed in the centre 



HOW TO PLAY FOOTBALL 277 

of the field and is kicked off, a man on the opposing 
team trying to catch it and to run back as far as 
possible before he is tackled and the ball ^Mowned." 
The next lineup takes place at this point and the 
game proceeds until a score is made. After each 
score the ball is put in play just as at the beginning 
of the game. 

The quarter-back calls out a series of numbers 
and letters called "'signals" before the ball is 
put into play. These signals will tell his team what 
the play is to be, whether a run around end, a kick, 
or a mass play on centre, for example. The matter 
of thorough coaching in signals is very important 
and must be practised by the team until it can 
tell in an instant just what the play is to be when 
the play starts. The centre stoops low and holds 
the ball in an upright position on the ground between 
his feet. The quarter-back is directly behind him 
with outstretched hands ready to receive it. After 
the signal is given the team must be ready to execute 
the play, but must not by look or motion permit 
its opponents know what the play is to be. At 
a touch or word from the quarter-back, the full-back 
snaps the ball back and the play starts. 

The position of the men on a team is generally 
as the diagram shows but for various plays other 



278 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

formations are used, provided that they do not 
violate the rules, which specify just how many men 
must be in the lineup and how many are permitted 
behind the line. 

The first requirement of signals is to have them 
simple. In the heat and stress of a game the players 
will have but little time to figure out what the play 
is to be, even though it may all have seemed very 
simple on paper. 

To begin a code of signals each position on the 
team is given a letter. The eleven positions will 
require eleven letters and no two must be alike. 
It would be possible of course to simply start with 
the letter "a" and go to "k," but this system would 
be too simple and easily understood by your oppo- 
nents. A better way is to take a word easily re- 
membered in which no letter occurs twice, such 
as "B-1-a-c-k-h-o-r-s-e-x" or any other combination. 
''Buy and trade," "importance," ''formidable," 
and many others are used. The same principle 
is used by tradesmen in putting private price marks 
on their goods. 

Take the words "buy and trade" for example. 
Their positions right and left end, abbreviated 
(r.e. and I.e.), right and left tackle (r.t. and 1. t.), 
right and left guard (r.g. and l.g.), centre (c), 



HOW TO PLAY FOOTBALL 279 

quarter-back (q.)> right and left half-backs (r.h. 
and l.h.), and full-back (f.b.), would be assigned 
letters as follows: 



Le. 


l.t. 


l.g. 


c. 


r.g. 


r.t. 


r.e. 


q. 


Lh. 


f.b. 


r.h 


B 


U 


F 


A 


N 


D 


T 


R 


A 


D 


E 



The letters denote not only players but holes 
in the line, as the spaces between the players are 
called. The quarter-back always adds to his signal 
a number of other letters or figures which have 
no meaning, simply to confuse the opposing players. 
For example the signal given is "24-E-N-72-X." 
The figures 24 and 72 mean nothing, nor does the 
"X." The signal says "E will take the ball and go 
through N," or right half-back through right guard. 
Any number of other plays can be denoted by letters 
or numbers, for example all punts by figures which 
are a multiple of ten, as 10-20, 150-300, and so on. 

The beginner in football should first of all be 
provided with a suitable uniform; there is no game 
in which this is more important. The game is 
rough and many and harsh are the jolts we receive; 
consequently we must use whatever padding and 
guards we can to provide against injury. 

The custom is to wear a tight jersey with elbow 
pads, a tight-fitting canvas jacket and well-padded 



280 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

canvas khaki or moleskin trousers. The appearance 
of our uniform is of Httle consequence, as football 
players are not noted for the beauty of their costumes. 
Heavy woollen stockings and f ootbsJl shoes complete 
the outfit. The shoes are the most important part 
of the uniform. They should lace with eyelets and 
be well provided with leather cleats to prevent 

slipping. 

A beginner at foot- 
ball can gain a lot of 
valuable points by 
carefully watching the 
practice of his team 
from the side lines. 
He is then in a posi- 
tion when called upon 
to fill a given position 
which he may be try- 
ing for, without oblig- 
ing the coach or cap- 
tain to give him instruction in many rudiments which 
he can just as well learn from observation. He must 
also be thoroughly familiar with the rules and their 
interpretation. A violation of the rules in football 
carries with it a severe penalty for the team, pro- 
vided of course that the referee sees it, consequently, 




Football shoes 



HOW TO PLAY FOOTBALL 



281 



a beginner must be especially careful not to permit 
his anxiety to make a good showing to result in being 
offside when the ball is put in play, interfering with 
a man about to make a fair catch or in doing many 
other things which the excitement of the game may 
occasion. 

The moment of putting the 
ball into play is called a "scrim- 
mage" and the scrimmage con- 
tinues until the ball is downed. 
A ball is "down" when the run- 
ner is brought to a standstill 
or when he touches the ground 
with any part of his body ex- 
cept his hands or feet. At this 
point the referee will blow his 
whistle and a lineup for a new 
scrimmage will take place. 

When the ball is kicked, a 
member of the opposing team 
who raises his hand and stands 
in one spot is entitled to make a catch without inter- 
ference, which if successful gives his team a free kick. 
In a free kick his opponents may not come within 
ten yards of where the ball was caught and some 
member of his team may kick either a drop kick, 




The football uniform 



282 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

punt or place kick as he sees fit. After a touchdown, 
which counts five, a place kick for goal is attempted. 
If the ball goes between the goal-posts and above 
the crossbar it counts one point additional for the 
team making the touchdown, or six in all. A score 
of one alone cannot be made in football, as the 
attempt for goal cannot be made until after a touch- 
down. This of course does not apply to a field 
goal, which may be attempted at any time while 
the ball is in possession of the team and which counts 
three. 

The smallest score is from a "safety," which 
results when a member of a team is forced to touch 
the ball down behind his own goal or is downed 
there by the opposing team. This play counts two 
for his opponents and is an evidence of weakness 
of the team. It has the advantage, however, of 
permitting the ball to be brought out twenty-five 
yards to be put into play. 

The rules of football were practically unchanged 
for a number of years, but the game developed so 
many dangerous features that nearly all the colleges 
recently agreed to certain important changes especi- 
ally directed to abolishing mass play and line buck- 
ing. For that reason the rules for the present game 
may be changed considerably within a few years. 



HOW TO PLAY FOOTBALL 283 

A boy taking up football should therefore acquaint 
himself with the latest rules governing the sport. 

Football requires careful training, but the best 
training will come from actual play itself. In the 
beginning of the season a period of ten minutes' hard 
play is all that a boy should be called upon to do, 
unless he is in excellent physical shape. After 
that the time of practice should be lengthened until 
a candidate can go through a game of two full 
halves without being exhausted. One reason* for 
many football injuries is that the players become 
so completely winded that the ordinary power of 
resistance is lost. 

Besides actual play the best training is in taking 
long runs to improve the wind, one of the most 
essential things in football. In the colleges training 
for nearly all athletic events is done in this way and 
a candidate who cannot go out with his squad 
and run four or five miles at a stiff dog trot will have 
but little chance of making his team. 



XVII 

LAWN TENNIS 

How to make and mark a tennis court — Clay and sod 

courts — The proper grip of the racket — Golf — The 

strokes and equipment 

THE steady growth in popularity of lawn ten- 
nis as well as the splendid exercise that re- 
sults from playing this game has givertit 
a sure place in the field of athletic sports. It is 
a game that requires a great deal of skill, and as 
no one realizes this fact more than those who are 
experts, a beginner should not be deterred from 
playing tennis simply because he may fear the 
criticism of the more experienced. The only way 
to learn the various strokes and to be able to play 
a good game is to practise at every opportunity. 
It is better to play against some one who is more 
skilful than ourselves and who will keep us on our 
mettle to make a good showing. 

The eye and the muscles must work automatically 
and with precision. No amount of written instruc- 
tions can give us this skill. The personal outfit 
for playing tennis is of course very simple. Every 

284 



LAWN TENNIS 285 

player should own his racket and become accus- 
tomed to it. They cost almost any price up to 
eight dollars, which will buy the very best rackets 
made. The weight and size of the racket will 
depend on our strength. The average weight for 
a man is about fourteen ounces and for a boy an 
ounce or two lighter. A skilful player becomes so 
accustomed to the feeling and weight of his own 
racket that often he will play an indifferent game 
if he is forced to use any other. 

The game of lawn tennis was iBrst played on a 
lawn or grass court, and many players still prefer this 
kind of a court, but the difficulty of obtaining a good 
sod, and after having obtained it the greater dif- 
ficulty of keeping it in good condition, have increased 
the popularity of a skinned or clay court, which 
is always in fair condition except immediately after 
a heavy rain. The expense of maintaining a tennis 
court is more than most boys or most families would 
care to undertake. 

As a rule, tennis courts fall in the same general 
class with golf links in that they lend themselves 
readily to the joint ownership of a club or school, 
where the expense falls on a number rather than on 
an individual. In a great many places the boys of a 
town or village have clubbed together and have 



286 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

obtained permission from some one owning a piece 
of vacant ground that is not likely to be sold or 
improved within a few years and have built a tennis 
court on it. This arrangement helps the appear- 
ance of the land, that should be secured at a very low, 
rental, or none at all if the owner is public spirited 
and prefers to see the boys of his town grow up 

^/deLme 78 feet 



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ffalf CourAlme,42 feet 


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The dimensions of a tennis court 

as healthy, athletic men rather than weaklings 
who have no place for recreation but in the village 
streets, where passing trucks and automobiles will 
endanger their lives, or at least cause them to be a 
nuisance to the public. 

To build a tennis court properly means a lot of 
work and it should only be attempted under the 
direction of some one who understands it. The 
things most important are good drainage, good light, 



LAWN TENNIS 287 

and sufficient room. A double court is 36 feet wide 
by 72 feet long, but in tournament games or on 
courts where experts play it is customary to have 
an open space about 60 feet wide by 110 to 120 feet 
long, to give the players plenty of room to run back 
and otherwise to play a fast game. A court should 
always be laid out north and south or as near these 
points of the compass as possible. In courts running 
east and west the sun is sure to be in the eyes of one 
of the players nearly all day ; this is of course a yery 
serious objection. While it is very pleasant to play 
tennis in the shade of a tree or building, a court 
should never be located under these conditions if 
it is possible to avoid it. A properly placed court 
should be fully exposed to the sun all day. 

First of all it will be necessary to decide whether 
a grass or "dirt" court is to be built. If the grass 
is fine and the place where the court is to be happens 
to be level, there is little to do but to cut the sod 
very short with a lawn-mower and to mark out the 
court. If, on the contrary, there is much grading 
or levelling to be done, a dirt court will be much 
cheaper and better in the end, as constant playing 
on turf soon wears bare spots. The upkeep of a 
grass court will be expensive unless it is feasible to 
move its position from time to time. 



288 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

Whatever the court is to be, the first question to 
consider is proper drainage. If the subsoil is sandy 
the chances are that the natural soakage will take 
care of the surplus water, but on the contrary, if 
the court is at the bottom of a hill or in a low place 
where clay predominates, it is necessary to provide 
some means of getting rid of the surplus water from 
rainfalls or our court may be a sea of mud just when 
it would be most useful to us. To level a court 
properly we shall need the services of some one 
expert with a levelling instrument of some kind. It 
is not safe to depend on what seems to be level to 
our eye, as our judgment is often influenced by lean- 
ing trees, the horizon, and other natural objects. 
With a few stakes driven into the ground, the tops of 
which are level, we are enabled to stretch lines 
which will give us our levels accurately. 

A court should have a slope of a few inches from 
one end to the other to carry off water. After the 
level is determined, all there is to making a court 
is to fill in or cut away soil and earth until the proper 
level space is obtained. As a rule it is better to 
dig away for a court rather than to fill in, as we thus 
obtain a better bottom and one that will require 
but little rolling. In the case of a slope, it is well 
so to locate the court that the amount of earth 



LAWN TENNIS 289 

excavated from one end will be just about sufficient 
to fill in the other. 

The final surfacing of a court is done by means 
of clay and sand in the proportion of about four 
or five to one, the clay of course being in excess. 
To mix clay and sand thoroughly, the former 
should first be pulverized thoroughly when dry and 
the mixture sifted over the court carefully and 
evenly. The next step is rolling and wetting, and 
more rolling and wetting until finally the whole is 
allowed to dry and is ready for play. The slight 
irregularities and roller ridges that often appear in 
a court will soon be worn off by the players' feet, 
but playing of course will not change the grade. A 
new court will be greatly improved by use, but no 
one should be allowed on a court except with rubber- 
soled shoes. Heeled shoes will soon ruin a court, 
and it is bad practice even to allow any one to walk 
over a court unless with proper footwear. 

The preliminary levelling of a court can be ac- 
complished with a rake and a straight-edged board, 
but after the clay has become packed and hard 
it will be necessary to use considerable force in 
scraping ofif the inequalities. A metal cutting edge, 
such as a hoe or scraper, will be found useful. A 
court should be swept with a coarse broom to dis- 



290 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

tribute the fine material evenly. Another very 
good sweeper can be made from a piece of wood 
about six or eight feet long to which several thick- 
nesses of bagging have been tacked or fastened. 

The final step in making a court consists in marking 
it out. Most courts are marked so that they will 
be suitable either for singles or doubles or so that 




A game of doubles in lawn tennis 

either two or four people can play at a time. Where 
tape markers are to be used, the proper distances 
will appear on the tape without measuring, but if 
lime is used for marking a careful plotting will be 
necessary to secure the proper distances, after which 
the corners should be indicated by angle irons, so 
that the court may be re-marked at any time 
without re-measuring. 

Considerable difficulty is often experienced by 



LAWN TENNIS 291 

beginners in marking out a court, and, in fact, it 
is not a simple matter. The first thing of impor- 
tance is to determine generally one corner of the 
court and to get a base line and a side Hne at a 
true right angle of ninety degrees. The same prin- 
ciple may be employed that is used by builders and 
surveyors in "squaring a building," as it is called. 
You will need a ten-foot pole with marks for the 
feet indicated on it in lead pencil, and in addition 
to this a few 20 -penny spikes and a ball of stout 
twine. Drive a nail into the ground where you want 
one corner of the court and fasten the line to it ; then 
stretch the line to another nail to mark either a 
side line or back line. You will then have one side 
and the corner fixed, and the problem is to get another 
line at right angles to it. Boys who have studied 
geometry know that '*in a right-angle triangle the 
square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the 
squares of the other two sides." It isn't necessary 
to understand this, but it is the principle employed 
in *' squaring." You next stretch another line and 
have some one hold it. On the fixed side line you 
measure eight feet from the corner nail and mark 
it with a piece of twine tied around the line. You 
also make a six-foot mark on the line to be at right 
angles to it, the exact direction of which is yet to be 



292 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

determined. Both of these measurements must be 
accurate. The boy on the end of the loose line 
moves it until the distance between the two pieces 
of twine is exactly the length of your ten-foot pole. 
The angle thus formed is exactly ninety degrees, or 
a right angle. Having obtained one side and one 
end, to finish marking is simply a matter of making 
the necessary measurements of a court as shown on 




How to mark out a tennis court 



the diagram and marking each intersecting point 
with a nail driven into the ground. 

Another way to lay out a court is to drive two 
stakes or nails into the ground 27 feet apart. (The 
line of these stakes should be the position of the 
net.) Then take two pieces of twine, one 47 feet 
5 inches long, and the other 39 feet. Fasten one 
line to each of the spikes that you have placed 27 



LAWN TENNIS 293 

feet apart. Where the two Hnes meet as they are 
pulled taut are the true corners of the court, as there 
are only four points where they can meet. The 
various measurements can then be marked as above 
by referring to the diagram. It is customary to 
mark a double court and to indicate the lines for 
singles afterward. 

The game of tennis may be played either by two 
or four persons, or sometimes an expert player 
will stand two beginners. The ball used is rubber 
filled with air and covered with white felt and is 
2}/^ inches in diameter. It is necessary to play 
with two balls, and to save time in chasing those 
that go wild it is customary to play with three or 
four. 

One of the players begins by serving. The 
selection of the court is usually chosen by lot or by 
tossing up a racket in a way similar to tossing a 
cent. The side of the racket where the woven 
gut appears is called "rough," and the other side 
'' smooth." This practice is not to be recommended, 
as it injures the racket. It is better to toss a coin. 
The game of tennis consists in knocking the ball 
over the net and into the court of your opponent, 
keeping up this volley until one side or player fails 
to make the return properly or at all, which scores 



294 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

his opponent a point. While a game in tennis 
consists of four points, the simple numbers from one 
to four are not used. The points run 15, 30, 40, game, 
when one side makes them all. Or it may be 
" 15-30," '' 15 all," and so on, the score of the server 
being mentioned first. Where one side has nothing 
their score is called "love." When one side has scored 
four points the game is won — with this exception : 
When both sides are tied at 40, or ''deuce," 
as it is called, the winners must make two points 
more than their opponents to win. In this way 
the game may be continued for a long time as the 
points are won first by one side and then by the 
other. The score at deuce, or "40 all," will be 
denoted as "vantage in" or "vantage out," depend- 
ing upon whether the server's side or the other 
wins one of the two points necessary to win from 
"deuce." If first one side, then the other, obtains 
one of these points the score will be "vantage in" 
or "out," as the case may be, and then "deuce" 
again, until finally when two points clear are made 
it is "game." A set of tennis consists in winning 
six games, but in this case also there is a peculiar 
condition. Where each side wins five games it is 
necessary in order to win the set to obtain a lead of 
two games. The score in games is then denoted just 




Photographs of Tennis Strokes Taken in Actual Play 




LAWN TENNIS 295 

as in a single game, "deuce" and ''vantage" games 
being played until a majority of two is won. 

To learn the game 
of tennis, first obtain 
a proper grip of the 
racket. It should al- 
ways be held firmly 
and as near the end 
as possible, the leather 
butt being inside the 
hand. A loose grip 
will absolutely pre- 
vent a player from be- 
coming expert, as the 
accuracy and quickness that are a part of tennis 
can never be obtained unless we have the racket 
under perfect control. The various backhand, high 
and low strokes will only come from constant 
practice. The most important stroke to master 
as well as the most difiicult is a swift, accurate 
service. A player who is otherwise a fair player 
can easily lose game after game by not having mas- 
tered his service stroke, and thus he beats himself 
without any effort on the part of his opponent. 
The various "twist" services have almost passed 
out of use. Even the best players employ a straight. 



a the right and b the wrong way to hold 
a tennis racket 



296 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

swift overhand ball. To fail to serve the ball over 
the net and in the proper place is called a "fault." 
The player has two chances and to fail in both is 
called "a double fault." A common mistake is to 
attempt a swift smash on the first ball, which may 
fail half the time, and then to make sure of the second 
ball by an easy stroke which a skilful opponent 
can return almost at will and thus either extend us 
to the utmost to return it or else make us fail al- 
together. It is better to make sure of the first 
serve than to attempt a more difficult serve than 
our skill will permit. 

GOLF 

The game of golf, while of comparatively recent 
introduction in this country, has sprung rapidly 
into popularity. It is hard to say just why it should 
be such a popular game except that it combines a 
certain amount of healthful outdoor exercise with 
an unlimited opportunity for skill, and in addition 
to this, unlike the more violent games, it can be 
joined in by old as well as young. The proper 
construction and maintenance of a golf course is 
an expensive proposition. A private course is 
altogether out of the question except for the very 
wealthy. A club in starting with a limited amount 



LAWN TENNIS 297 

of money will find it more satisfactory to begin with 
the construction of a nine-hole or even a six-hole 
course rather than to attempt a full course of eighteen 
holes which will be indifferently constructed or 





Addressing At the top of the swing 

kept up. The average eighteen-hole course is 
about three miles long and is built acccording to 
the general lay of the land. A hole in golf consists 
in the stretch between the "tee," from which the 
ball is knocked off, and the "putting green," where 
the player "putts" the ball into the "hole" — a 



298 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

can sunk into the ground which has about the same 
diameter as a tomato can. The score consists in 
the number of strokes required to make the hole, and 

of course the player 
making the fewest 
number of strokes 
is the winner of the 
hole or match. 

Golf has but few 
rules. The secret 
of playing well con- 
sists in being able 
to swing the clubs 
with accuracy and 
precision. There is 
no game where 
proper form counts 
for more and none in 
which more careful 
preliminary instruction by an expert is so im- 
portant. If one can at the very outset obtain the 
services of a professional or a skilful player for a 
few lessons, it will do far more good than ten times 
as many lessons after we have contracted bad 
habits which will have to be unlearned. 

The surest way to be a poor golfer is first to think 




Just before the ball is struck 





How An Expert Plays Golf 



ij 



LAWN TENNIS 299 

that it is a sort of "old man's game," or, as one boy 
said, "a game of knocking a pill around a ten-aer6 
lot"; then when the chance to play our first game 
comes along to do it indif- 
ferently, only to learn later 
that there is a lot more to 
the skill of a good player 
than we ever realized. An- 
other very common mistake 
is to buy a complete outfit 
of clubs, which a beginner 
always improperly calls 
"sticks," before we really 
know just what shape and 
weight of club is best 
adapted to our needs. 

The common clubs in 
most players' outfits con- 
sist of a driver, brassie, cleek, iron, and putter. 
We can add to this list almost indefinitely if we 
wish, as there are all sorts of clubs made for various 
shots and with various angles. The game of golf 
consists in covering a certain fixed course in the 
fewest number of shots. We shall have to practise 
both for distance and accuracy. The first few shots 
on a hole of average length will give us an opportunity 



A good outfit of clubs for golf 



300 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

for distance. This is especially true of the first shot, 
or drive, but after that we make what are known 
as approach shots — that is to say, we are approaching 
the putting green where we complete the hole by 
"putting" the ball into the tin cup sunk into the 
ground. On the green we shall need to be very care- 
ful, as a stroke wasted or poorly played counts just 
as much against our score if the ball goes only a few 
feet as if we sliced or "foozled" our drive. 

In scoring for golf there are two methods : Either 
the score of each hole is taken and the winner of a 
majority of holes wins the match, or the total score 
in counted as in "medal" or "tournament play." 

"Bogie score" is a fictitious score for the course 
that is supposed to denote perfect playing without 
flukes or luck. The mysterious "Colonel Bogie" 
is an imaginary player who always makes this 
score. 



XVIII 

PHOTOGRAPHY 

The selection of a camera — Snapshots vs. real pictures — 
How to make a photograph from start to finish 

ASIDE from our own pleasant recollections, an 
album of photographs can be the most 
satisfactory reminder of the good times 
we have had on some vacation or outdoor trip. 

Photography has been made so easy and so inex- 
pensive by modern methods that every one should 
have some kind of a camera. Small instruments 
capable of taking really excellent pictures within 
their limits can be bought for five dollars or even 
less. Of course we cannot hope often to obtain 
pictures that will be really artistic with such a 
small outfit, but sometimes the inexpensive cameras 
will give remarkably good results. 

Snapshot pictures seem to fill such an important 
place in our outdoor life that no vacation or excur- 
sion trip seems to be complete unless some one 
takes along a camera. 

The modern way of taking pictures, which is 

301 



302 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

simply pressing a button and sending a film to the 
professional to *'do the rest," including developing, 
printing and mounting, is really not photography. 
Almost any one can take pictures with a small hand 
camera. The manufacturers have perfected instru- 
ments so complete for this kind of work that there 
is very little for us to do beyond being sure that we 
have an unexposed section of film in place and that 
we have sufficient light to obtain a picture. Of 
course we must have the focus right and must be 
sure we are pointing at what we wish to take. 

Real photography is quite different from snap- 
shot work. It is a hobby so fascinating and with 
such great possibilities that there is scarcely any- 
thing that will give a boy or girl more real pleasure 
in life and a better opportunity to be outdoors than 
to become an expert outdoor photographer. Un- 
fortunately it is a rather expensive pastime, but 
even with a moderate priced instrument we can 
obtain excellent results under the right conditions. 
I have seen a prize-winning picture in an exhibition 
that was made with a cigar box, with a pinhole in 
one end for a lens. 

Even though one does not care to become an 
expert photographer, by all means get a camera and 
make snapshots. It is quite a common idea for 



PHOTOGRAPHY 303 

an amateur to attribute his failures to defects in 
his material or outfit. You may be sure when you 
fail it is your own fault. Dealers in photographic 
supplies constantly have complaints from customers 
about defective materials, and certainly nine out 
of every ten of these cases are simply due to the 
carelessness of the operator with perfectly good 
material. 

It is well for a beginner in photography to start 
with a simple snapshot camera. They can be bought 
for three or four dollars up to twenty-five. Such 
cameras are used with films, and simply require the 
operator to expose his film in plenty of light and 
with the proper attention to the distance that the 
object to be photographed may be from the camera. 
Until we can accurately estimate distances, such 
as 8, 15, 25 or more feet, it will be far safer to pace 
oflf the distance, remembering that a long step for 
a boy is about equivalent to three feet. Some 
cameras have a universal focus and require no ad- 
justing, but an adjustable camera will usually give 
better results. 

Some cameras are so constructed that they may 
be used either as a hand machine or on a tripod 
for view work. They can also be adapted either 
to films or plates and be operated with the ground 



304 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

glass for focussing, or if desired, the focussing scale 
and view finder may be used. 

The size of our camera will depend largely upon 
our purse. The cost of the camera itself is not the 
only thing to consider. All the plates and supplies 
increase in proportion to the size of our instrument. 
A good all around size is 4 x 5, or if we really wish 
to become photographers the 5x7 is a standard. 
A number of new sizes have recently been introduced 
and have proven very satisfactory. Perhaps the 
best size for a snapshot camera is 334 x 5J^. 

There are a great many makes of cameras on the 
market, but even at the risk of advertising one 
firm more than another it is only fair to say that 
there is really nothing better in pocket snapshot 
machines than the kodaks. In view cameras it 
is different. There are instruments of a dozen 
makes any of which will produce excellent results. 
The tests to apply in selecting a view camera are 
its workmanship, compactness, and the various 
attachments and conveniences it has. The sales- 
man from whom you purchase will explain fully 
just what its possibilities are, especially if you take 
some experienced person with you who can ask 
questions. 

Suppose you begin photographing with a simple 



PHOTOGRAPHY 305 

"snapshot" outfit. The first thing to remember 
is that there is absolutely no excuse for the large 
percentages of failures that beginners have in making 
pictures, and which are due solely to their own 
carelessness and inattention to simple details. 
First of all, immediately after making an exposure, 
be sure to form the habit of turning the key until a 
fresh film comes into place; then you will never be 
troubled with the question whether you have ex- 
posed the film or not. Every professional photog- 
rapher who develops for amateurs handles many 
films in which some of the negatives are blank and 
some are double negatives with two pictures on one 
film. This is solely the fault of the photographer, 
who was never quite sure and would first make the 
mistake of exposing a film twice, then turning the 
roll without exposing it at all. If you are really 
in doubt, it is better to turn the roll to the next 
number, as you thus simply lose a film but preserve 
both negatives; if, on the other hand, you make a 
double exposure, you will lose both pictures. 

The snapshot photographer should never take a 
picture unless he really wants it and unless he is 
pretty certain of making a picture. Snapping here 
and there without a proper condition of light, focus, 
or subject is a very bad habit to contract. Until 



306 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

you can make at least eight good pictures out of 
ten you are not a photographer. No average lower 
than this should satisfy you. Do not blame the 
lens for your failures. In recent years the art of 
making lenses has advanced wonderfully, and while 
the one in your camera may not be an expensive one 
or capable of a wide range of use, it is at least adapted 
to the purpose of your instrument or you may be sure 
that the manufacturers would never have used it. 

We should not consider the snapshot expert who 
merely presses the button as a real photographer, 
even though he obtains fine pictures. No one de- 
serves this name who does not understand the opera- 
tions of the dark room. One who has experienced 
the wonderful sensation of working in a faint yellow- 
ruby light and by the application of certain mys- 
terious chemicals of seeing a picture gradually come 
into view on the creamy surface of a dry plate will 
never again be satisfied to push the button and allow 
some one else "to do the rest." However, if you 
do not wish to go into photography extensively you 
may at least learn just what limits your hand 
camera has, and at the end of the season in place 
of a lot of ill-timed pictures you can have an album 
full of creditable prints for which no apology will 
be necessary. 



PHOTOGRAPHY 307 

It is quite beyond the limits of this chapter to 
go into photography fully, but some of the simple 
principles may be of use to the boy or girl who has 
taken up the subject. The modern snapshot camera 
even of small size has great possibilities. With a 
clear negative we can have an enlargement made 
on bromide paper that will be a source of great 
satisfaction. The actual making of enlargements 
is usually beyond the limits of an amateur's outfit. 
In this part of photographic work it will be better 
to patronize a professional. 

To become an expert photographer and one 
whose work will be worth while, we must really 
make a study of the subject. The modern outfits 
and chemicals make it very easy for us if we do our 
part. 

The basis of successful work is a good lens, which 
is really the eye of the camera. In selecting it we 
should get just as good a one as we can aflford. 
There are a great many excellent makes of lenses on 
the market and even the stock types that are sup- 
plied with moderate-priced cameras are of very good 
quality. The two distinct types of lenses are the 
*' rapid rectilinear" and the ''anastigmatic," which 
names refer to their optical properties in distributing 
the light. For our purpose all we need to know is 



308 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

that the higher price we pay the better our lenses 
will be, and in addition to this the further fact that 
the best kind of results can be obtained by any lens 
provided that we do not try to force it to do work 
for which it is not adapted. 

To understand photography we must first of all 
get a clear notion of the use and purpose of the 
stops, as the various openings or apertures are called 
that the lens is provided with. A ''fast" lens is one 
that will give a sharp picture at a maximum opening, 
and such lenses are both the most expensive and the 
most universal in their application. Lenses of this 
class are used in making instantaneous pictures with 
very rapid exposures, and for ordinary view or 
portrait work will produce no better results than 
much slower and less expensive types. 

Perhaps the best way to understand photography 
as an art rather than a ''push the button" pastime 
is to take up the process of making a picture step 
by step. To begin with, the real photographer will 
use plates instead of films, as much better pictures 
usually are possible by their use. Dry plates come 
a dozen in a box, usually packed face to face — that 
is, with the film or sensitive sides facing. The 
plate-holder must be loaded in a dark room or dark 
closet, with absolutely no exposure to daylight 



PHOTOGRAPHY 309 

or any artificial light whatever except a very faint 
light from a dark-room lantern, a combination of 
ruby and yellow glass or paper. We should always 
test our dark room and light by means of a plate 
before we trust them to actual working conditions. 
Take a fresh plate and cover it half with a piece 
of cardboard, or if it is in a holder draw the slide 
half way out and allow the dark-room light to strike 
it for five minutes, then develop the plate just as 
you would an exposed negative, and if the test 
plate shows the effect of the exposure and darkens, 
we shall need to make our light safer either by adding 
a sheet or two of yellow or ruby paper or we must 
examine our room carefully to stop up any cracks 
where rays of white light may enter. We must 
remember that a plate sensitive enough to record 
instantaneous exposures of 1-500 of a second must 
be sensitive to any tiny ray of outside light also. 
Almost any room will make a dark room, especially 
if it is used at night. By drawing the shades and 
by doing our work in a far corner of the room away 
from outside light we are comparatively safe. Of 
course an electric street lamp or other bright light 
would have to be shut out, but this can easily be 
done by pinning up a blanket over the window. 
When we have loaded our plate-holders we are 



310 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

ready to make a picture. Suppose, for example, 
it is to be a house or a vista of some kind such as a 
group of trees or a bit of water: the first thing of 
importance is to obtain a point of view that will 
not only give us the picture we desire but that will 
leave out any undesirable features that we do not 
care to take. Some cameras are provided with a 
small view finder for snapshot work, and this may 
often be used to get a general idea of what the picture 
will be. 

Successful photography consists largely in knowing 
just what to take and what to omit. Sometimes an 
ugly piece of fence or a post will spoil an otherwise 
excellent picture. We must also remember that in 
a photograph our colours are expressed in black and 
white, and therefore a picture that depends on its 
colour contrast for its beauty, such as autumn 
foliage or a sunset, may be disappointing as a photo- 
graph. 

When we have decided upon our subject, the next 
step is to set our camera in the proper position to 
permit the plate to take in what we wish. Usually 
it will be necessary to shift our position several times 
until we find the proper position. The tripod should 
be firmly set on the ground and the camera made as 
level as possible. The camera should then be 



PHOTOGRAPHY 311 

focussed with the stop or diaphragm wide open. The 
fact that the image is inverted as it appears on the 
ground glass will at first be confusing to a beginner, 
but we soon, become accustomed to it and never 
give it a thought. Our focussing cloth should be 
tightly drawn about the head to keep out as much 
outside light as possible. At first we have some 
difficulty in seeing the image on the ground glass, 
but after we learn to look at the glass and not through 
it we should have no further trouble in this respect. 
By moving the lens backward and forward w^ 
finally strike a position where the principal image 
to be photographed will appear sharp and clear. 
The camera is then in focus, but we shall discover 
that other objects more in the background or 
foreground will appear blurred and confused. Often 
it is desirable to have a blurred or "fuzzy" back- 
ground, but if we desire to bring the indistinct 
objects in focus we must "stop down" our lens first 
by trying the No. 8 stop, and if this does not accom- 
plish the results the No. 16, and so on until we get 
what we wish. As we look at the image on the 
ground glass, it will be evident that as we stop down 
our lens, the more remote objects are gradually 
brought into view with a sharp outline, we shall 
discover that the image on the ground glass becomes 



312 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

less and less distinct, which shows very clearly that 
we are admitting less light, and the lesson to be 
learned is that when we make the exposure we must 
give a corresponding increase in time as the amount 
of light admitted decreases. An exposure that would 
give a perfect picture at No. 8 may be very much 
under-exposed at No. 32 diaphragm. 

Having focussed our camera and set the stop, 
we then close the shutter, insert the plate-holder 
in the back of the camera and carefully draw the 
slide. Omitting to pull the slide is a common 
mistake with beginners. We are now ready to 
decide just what exposure to give our plate. Rules 
for exposure are almost useless, but in general it 
may be said that the modern plates are lightning 
fast and that in bright sunlight at midday the average 
exposures will not be over 1-25 of a second. An 
''exposure meter" will prove to be of great assistance 
to a beginner, but such arrangements are not often 
used by experts except in doubtful cases. We soon 
find that we can guess at average exposures with 
considerable accuracy, especially if we adopt a 
certain brand of plate and become accustomed to 
its working qualities. Of course all of these speeds 
must be indicated on the shutter, and all we can do 
is to set our shutter at this point and squeeze the 



PHOTOGRAPHY 313 

bulb. Correct judgment in exposure will only come 
after experience. In taking interior views or making 
pictures on dark days we shall be less likely to make 
a mistake than in bright sunlight. I have made 
two interior views, to one of which I gave ten minutes 
and the other ah hour, with practically the same 
result in the negative. An over-exposed plate is 
flat, which means that the print will lack contrast 
and be unsatisfactory as a photograph. 

After the bulb is squeezed and the exposure made 
we are ready to develop our plate and to see what 
result we have obtained. Of course in practice we' 
make a number of exposures before we begin to 
develop. Some photographers use numbered plate- 
holders and keep a record of the pictures, time of 
day and of exposure, stop and any other items of 
interest. We now take the plate-holder in our dark 
room and prepare our developer. There are a 
great many developers on the market and we can 
scarcely make a mistake with any of them. Prob- 
ably the best of all is "pyro," but the fact that it 
stains the fingers is a serious objection to it for 
amateur use, and almost any other developer, 
such as metol, eikonogen or hydroquinon will be 
better. 

These stock developers usually come in dry salts, 



314 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

which must be dissolved and mixed. All of this 
work must be done in the light so we can see that 
we are getting the proper proportions and that the 
chemicals are thoroughly in solution. The develop- 
ing trays should be washed thoroughly and placed 
conveniently at hand so that we can find them in 
the dark. In addition to developers we must have 
what is called the "hypo" fixing bath. This is a 
solution of hyposulphite of soda, a chemical which 
is used in development and which renders the plate 
no longer sensitive to light, but dissolves that part 
which has not been acted upon by the developer. 
The hypo should be in a tray or box placed conveni- 
ently at hand but not so located that it will be liable 
to become mixed with the developer or in any way 
to splash or spot the plate. We must always wash 
the hands thoroughly after immersing a plate in 
the hypo before handling a fresh plate, as a very 
few drops will ruin a negative. 

After we have prepared the hypo and the developer 
we are ready to develop the plate. Place it face 
side up in the tray and quickly pour the developer 
over it, being sure that the solution covers the 
surface immediately, to avoid unequal develop- 
ment. While we should not develop in a strong red 
or yellow light we can at least place our tray in 



PHOTOGRAPHY 315 

such a position that we may watch the process of 
bringing up the image out of the creamy surface 
of the plate. This is the most fascinating part of 
photography. First the high hghts will appear 
and then the shadows, and then after an instant the 
whole image will come into view and then begin to 
fade away. To know at what point development 
should stop will only come by experience with 
negatives of all sorts of classes. Generally speaking, 
when the image fades from view and begins to appear 
through the film on the glass side we should wash 
it quickly and immerse it in the hypo. The " fixing " * 
in hypo will take probably five minutes and should 
be continued until the white coating is thoroughly 
dissolved. \The plate may then be brought safely 
to the light and should be washed thoroughly 
either in running water for half an hour or in at 
least twelve changes of fresh water. Care must be 
taken not to touch the film side of the plate during 
development or fixing, as the gelatine coating be- 
comes very soft and will show the slightest scratch 
or abrasion. We must dry the plate away from dust, 
sunlight, or artificial heat. After it is dry we are 
ready to make a print. 

Photographic printing papers are of two classes — 
those which are used in direct sunlight and upon 



316 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

which the image gradually appears, and those which 
are similar to plates and which are given a very 
short time exposure in artificial light and the picture 
developed just as we should a plate. The beginner 
will probably have more uniform success with sun- 
light paper after the simple process of toning and 
fixing is learned, although the developing papers 
are extremely simple to handle and give better 
results. 

The final step of trimming and mounting the print 
is too simple to require explanation. 

There are a great many things that might be 
said about photography, but in a book of this kind 
only the most simple facts are stated. If you be- 
come a photographer you will soon learn many of the 
fine points. 

Our negatives should all be kept carefully in 
labelled envelopes and a record kept in a book of 
some kind. 

When we really become expert as a photographer, 
there are many opportunities to make our hobby 
pay. The publishers of nearly all the magazines 
experience the greatest difficulty in securing the 
kind of pictures they wish to reproduce. This 
is remarkable when so many people are taking pic- 
tures. If one wishes to sell pictures, it is im- 



PHOTOGRAPHY 317 

portant to study the class of materials that the maga- 
zines use. Then, if we can secure good results, we 
can be almost sure of disposing of some of our work 
and, in addition to the money, have the satisfaction 
of seeing our pictures published. 



XIX 

OUTDOOR SPORTS FOR GIRLS 

What to wear — Confidence — Horseback riding — Tennis — 
Golf — Camping 

A GENERATION ago the girl who joined her 
brother in his sports would have been 
considered a "torn boy," but in recent 
years girls have discovered that with comparatively 
few exceptions they can join in the sports and rec- 
reations of their brothers and in some cases attain 
a remarkable degree of skill. 

Girls' schools have done much to spread this idea. 
A rational outdoor costume and a desire to be phys- 
ically well also has helped ''the outdoor girl" to 
be regarded as the highest type of womanhood. 
Only her grandmother sighs over tanned cheeks and 
muscular arms. 

The girl who is not a good sport is the exception 
rather than the rule. Besides, our grandmothers 
worked at their gardening, which is out-of-door 
exercise, and a preventive, as Kipling tells, of the 

318 



OUTDOOR SPORTS FOR GIRLS 319 

''hump" we get from having too httle to do. He 

says: 

" The cure for this ill is not to sit still. 
Or frowst with a hook by the fire, 
But to take a large hoe and a shovel also. 
And dig till you gently perspire.^' 

From a feminine standpoint the first question 
must be, "What shall I wear?" There is no need 
to be handicapped by skirts, at least when one's 
exercise is taken in company with a crowd of girls. 
The bicycle introduced the bloomer girl and this 
costume is now generally regarded as proper for 
outdoor girls. In camp one should in addition wear 
a sailor blouse, and a pair of sneakers, which though 
rather heating for the feet are very comfortable and 
very satisfactory for long tramps through the woods. 
The rubber soles give a firm footing on slippery moss 
and dead leaves, while high heels might cause a 
wrenched ankle or a bad fall. It is perfectly allow- 
able for a girl to wear a broad-brimmed hat to avoid 
sunburn, which might be so serious as to spoil a vaca- 
tion. A gradually acquired coat of tan is much more 
desirable. The hat prevents headaches or sun- 
stroke, neither of which may be dared with impunity 
by a delicate girl, unless she wears her hair on top 
of her head. 



320 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

In regard to hair, which is of great importance to 
its owner, though very much of a nuisance after 
the age when it may be worn boyishly short, the one 
word is that it must be fixed to stay without re- 
pinning or tucking back at frequent intervals. 
For bathing, a girl must either be willing to have her 
hair well soaked or else to put a cap on so tightly 
that it cannot be loosened. To hesitate to try a 
dive for fear of getting wet hair spoils much of the 
sport of swimming. Each moment of hesitation 
makes her more convinced that perhaps, after all, 
she had better not try that dive, because she prob- 
ably would not be able to do it anyway. The 
lack of confidence is disastrous. I have known 
girls who could swim perfectly well in the shallows 
but could not keep up at all in water out of their 
depth. And yet they have not been touching the 
bottom in the shallow water, but they could if they 
wished. Learning to swim in water that is over 
your head is really better, though it is more ''scary" 
at first. If you do learn in that way you can there- 
after look upon the deepest water with confident 
scorn. 

Confidence is a necessary possession for the be- 
ginner in almost any sport. It is so much easier 
to do anything if we are quite positive that we can. 



OUTDOOE SPORTS FOR GIRLS 321 

Probably, because you are a girl and are modest, 
you will have to assume this attitude, but in horse- 
back riding, for example, an instant of fear while on 
the horse's back will "give you away" to the beast. 
Since he is as keen as a dog to know when you fear 
and dislike him, he will undoubtedly take advantage 
of it. If you are quite positive that you can learn 
to ride and that the horse under you is harmless, 
you will keep a firm hold on the reins instead of 
clinging to the saddle horn in a panic. 

The trying part of learning to ride is that the 
first day's experience is painfully stiffening. Thi^ 
applies to almost any unusual exercise. But to 
withdraw on account of that you may as well resign 
yourself to taking exercise no more severe than that 
afforded by a rocking chair. It does not pay to 
stop when you are stiff. Sticking to it is the only way 
that will train those hitherto unused muscles to 
perform their duties with no creaking of the hinges. 
A good night's rest is the utmost limit of time that 
should intervene between each trial. 

A girl has the physical disadvantage of less endur- 
ance than a boy, and she does have to care for 
herself in that respect, and leave untried some 
forms of exercise that would be overexertion for her. 
A girl may ** paddle her own canoe," of course. 



322 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

without risk of overstraining herself, but when it 
comes to moving it from place to place out of the 
water, the feather-light canoe of poetry becomes 
heavy reality. Two girls can carry a canoe between 
them for a short distance without much difficulty, 
but if one is alone it is far better to drag the canoe 
over the ground, which is not particularly hard on 
it, unless the ground is rough. The boy's way of 
carrying it balanced upside down on his shoulders 
requires considerable strength. 

Devotees of tennis will claim first place for that 
among girls' sports. The amount of practice and 
quickness of thought and motion that maybe acquired 
in a game of tennis is remarkable; the fascination 
of the game itself rather than the benefits to be 
derived from it will hold the attention. The main 
trouble is in the learning, which requires unflagging 
energy and constant practice. An overmodest begin- 
ner will make the mistake of playing only against her 
likewise beginning friends; the result is that she 
takes a discouragingly long time finding out how to 
use her racket properly and never gets a chance 
to return a really good serve. 

It is really just as well at some point in your 
practising to see some well-trained athlete do the 
thing you are trying to learn. 



OUTDOOR SPORTS FOR GIRLS 323 

A girl can accomplish a great deal with her brain 
as well as with her muscles in athletics. Some one 
once remarked that he learned to swim in winter 
and to skate in summer. He meant that after he 
had in its proper season practised skill in the winter 
sport, his brain, during the warm months, kept 
repeating to the muscles those directions until by 
the next winter they had a very fair idea of what they 
had to do, and responded more quickly and easily. 
It is rather consoling to think you do not lose time, 
but rather progress, between seasons. 

The girl who goes camping with a crowd of boys 
and girls realizes how much depends on the mere 
strength of the boys; at the same time she herself 
has an opportunity of showing not only her athletic 
proficiency and nerve, but also her superior common 
sense. She will really have to leave the heavy work 
of pitching the tents and chopping the wood to the 
boys, but she cannot sit down and fold her hands 
meanwhile. She can be collecting materials for the 
beds of balsam on which they hope to sleep in com- 
fort, or she may gather chips for the fire, or she may 
be helping to unload the wagon or canoes in which 
they have come. When the tents are pitched she 
has a woman's prerogative of " putting the house in 
order," and during the time of camping keeping it so. 



SU OUTDOOR SPORTS 

If there is actually a case of nothing for her to do, 
far better for her to sit down and keep quiet than to 
get in the way of the boys and bother them. A 
young man who in his first season as a guide in the 
Canadian woods took out a party of girls from a 
summer school on a camping trip told me that he 
would never do it again, because they gave him no 
relief from a continual rain of questions. A case 
where zeal for knowledge outruns discretion. 

After the tents are pitched and the fire made by 
the boys, it is plainly up to the girls to get supper. 
Let us hope they have practised cooking for some 
time before they went camping. Every one gets 
so desperately hungry in the outdoor life that 
meals are of first importance, as tempers are apt 
to develop unexpectedly if many failures are turned 
out. If the girls are good cooks, however, and wash 
the dishes after each meal the division of labour 
will be fair to all concerned. 

A girl is more or less dependent on her boy friends 
for instruction in sports and considerably anxious 
for their approval. Even if she has a woman instruc- 
tor, in nine cases out of ten she requires some kind 
of praise from some man before she is satisfied with 
her performance. Sister may tell her that she steers 
her canoe with beautiful precision, but unless brother 



OUTDOOR SPORTS FOR GIRLS 325 

remarks carelessly that "the kid paddles pretty 
well" she will hesitate to take her canoe in places 
where expert paddling is required. When you know 
that you can do some things as well as any boy 
you still have to rest content with the grudging 
assurance that "you do pretty''w:ell for a girl." 



XX 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 



The following games are described in this chapter: 



All-around Athletic --^ 

Championship - 
Archery ^ 

Association Football ^' 
Badminton 
Balli-calhe 
Bandy- 
Baseball 
Basket Ball 
Bean Bag 

Best College Athletic Records 
Blind Man's Buff-* 
Boulder On — - 
Bull in the Ring 
Call Ball 
Cane Rush 
Canoe Tilting 
Cat, or Cattie — 
Counting-out Rhymes 
Court Tennis 
Cricket 
Croquet "^ 
Curling 
Dixie's Land 



Duck on the Rock ~ 
Equestrian Polo 
Eat _ 
Feather Race 
Foot-and-a-half 
Football -~ 

Garden Hockey 
Golf 

Golf-Croquet 
Hab-Enihan 
Haley Over 
Hand Ball -- 
Hand Polo 
Hand Tennis 
Hat Ball ~^~ 
Hide and Seek "^ 
High Kick — ' 
Hockey "^ 
Hop Over 
Hop Scotch ~-' 
Hunkety 
Hunt the Sheep 

Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic 
Association of America 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 



327 



I Spy - 
Jack Fagots 
Jai-A-Li 

Japanese Fan Ball 
Kick the Stick *-^ 
King of the Castle 
Knuckle There 
Lacrosse 
Lawn Bowls 
Lawn Bowling 
Lawn Hockey 
Lawn Skittles 
Lawn Tennis 
Last Tag ,^ 
Luge-ing — -^ 
Marathon Race "^ 
Marbles 

Mumblety Peg — 
Names of Marbles 
Nigger Baby '" 
Olympic Games 
One Old Cat 
Over the Barn 
Pass It i- 
Pelota 

Plug in the Ring 
Polo 

Potato Race 
Prisoner's Base '- 
Push Ball 



Quoits ^•~""' 

Racquets or Rackets 

Red Line 

Red Lion 

Roley Boley 

Roque 

Rowing Record 

Rubicon 

Sack Racing 

Scotland's Burning 

Skiing 

Soccer 

Spanish Fly ^-^ 

Squash 

Stump Master "^ 

Suckers 

Tether Ball 

Tether Tennis 

Three-Legged Racing 

Tub Racing 

Volley Ball »- 

Warning 

Washington Polo 

Water 

Water Race 

Wicket Polo 

Wolf and Sheep 

Wood Tag--- 

Yank 



While all the games and sports described in this 
chapter are not absolutely confined to outdoors, al- 
most any game in which violent physical exercise 



328 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

results is better if played in the open air rather 
than in a house or gymnasium. In fact, we should 
only play indoors when the weather makes it im- 
possible for us to be outside. 

There are very few indoor games that cannot be 
played in the open air with proper apparatus or 
rules. It is also equally true that many of our out- 
side sports may be played indoors with certain 
modifications. 

ALL-AROUND ATHLETIC CHAMPIONSHIP 

This contest was instituted in America in 1884 
to give athletes an opportunity to demonstrate 
their ability in all-around work. The contest is 
rapidly becoming the blue ribbon championship 
event in America for track athletes. The following 
ten events are contested for: 

100-yard dash Putting 16-pound shot 

High jump Throwing 56-pound weight 

Long jump 120-yard hurdle race 

Vault Half-mile walk 

Throwing 16-pound hammer One-mile run 

The system of scoring in the All-around Cham- 
pionship is complicated. Each contestant has his 
score made up independently. The world's best 
amateur record is taken as a basis and 1,000 points 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 329 

are allowed for it. For example, the best record 
(amateur) for the 100-yard dash is 9| seconds and 
for each ^ oi a, second more than this that the 
runner in the All-around Championship con- 
test makes in his trial 42 points are deducted 
from this score. The same method is used in all 
the events. In the ten events the maximum score 
where the contestant equalled every world's 
record would be 10,000 points. The contest 
was won in 1909 by the remarkable score of 
7,385 points. 

ARCHERY 

Archery is the art of shooting with a bow and 
arrow. It is especially adapted as a lawn game for 
ladies and gentlemen, but boys and girls can practise 
archery and become proficient with bows and arrows 
just as the Indians were or the boys in England in 
the days of Robin Hood. Of course the invention of 
gunpowder has practically done away with the 
bow and arrow either as a means of warfare or as 
a weapon to be used in the chase, but it is still 
used by savages. 

The modern bow used in archery is made of lance- 
wood or yew and for men's use is usually 6 feet long 
and for women and children 6 inches shorter. The 



330 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

strength or pull necessary to bend the bow, given 
in pounds, determines its classification. The arrows 
for men's use should be 28 inches long and for 
women 24 to 25 inches. The target is a straw- 
filled canvas disk painted in bright colours. 
There are usually five circles and the object in 
archery, as in shooting with firearms, is to hit 
either the centre ring or '* bull's-eye" or as near 
to it as possible. In scoring, a shot in the inner 
gold centre counts nine; red ring, seven; inner 
white ring, five; black ring, three, and outer 
white ring, one. Targets are of various sizes 
from 18 inches in diameter to 4 feet, depending 
on the distance of the range. A common distance 
will be from 50 to 100 yards. 

Each archer should have some distinguishing 
mark or colour on his arrows. Standard lancewood 
bows will cost two or three dollars, arrows from one 
to two dollars a dozen, and targets from two to five 
dollars each, with three dollars extra for the target 
stand. 

In championship matches in archery the custom- 
ary range for men is 60 yards with 96 arrows, 
and the same number of arrows at 50 yards for 
women. A recent match championship was decid- 
ed for men with 90 hits and a total score of 458, 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 331 

and for women with 85 hits and a total score of 
441. 

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL OR SOCCER 

A game similar to Rugby football except that it 
more closely resembles what its name implies and 
kicking predominates. A round, leather-covered 
ball is used and the game is considered to be much 
safer than our college football. Efforts consequently 
have been made to introduce the game into American 
colleges because of its less dangerous character. 
As there is practically no tackling or falling, the 
"soccer" uniform does not require the same amount 
of padding as a Rugby player's uniform. The game 
is ordinarily played in running trousers with a full 
sleeved shirt and special shoes with leather pegs or 
cleats. The stockings are rolled down just below 
the knee. The association football goal net into 
which the ball is kicked is fastened to the ground 
and is made of tarred rope. Thus far, the game 
has not been very popular in America, although 
a number of exhibition match games have recently 
been played by visiting English teams which at- 
tracted considerable attention. As a game, soccer 
is fast and exciting, and splendid opportunities are 
given for team work; but for some reason 



332 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

it has not succeeded in displacing our American 
game of Rugby, although possibly it is more inter- 
esting for the spectator. 

BADMINTON 

An English outdoor game similar to lawn tennis 
but played with shuttlecocks. The net is five feet 
above the ground. The shuttlecock is a cork in 
which feathers have been inserted. The shuttlecock 
is served and returned as in tennis and either two 
or four may play. A badminton court is 30 feet 
wide and 44 feet long. 

BANDY 

A game very similar to hockey, except that it 
is played out of doors instead of in a covered rink 
and a ball is used in place of a puck or rubber disk. 

The name "bandy" is sometimes applied also 
to shinney or shinty and in England it is also applied 
to our American game of ice hockey. 

BASEBALL 

The national game of America. (See chapter on 
baseball.) The game is played by eighteen persons, 
nine on a side, called " nines." The positions are 
pitcher, catcher, first base, second base, third base, 
shortstop, right-field, left-field, centre-field. The 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 333 

first six positions are called the in-field, and the last 
three, the out-field. The diamond or field where the 
game is played is a square plot of ground with sides 
ninety feet long. At each corner of the square are 
bases called first, second, third and home plate. 
A game consists of nine innings, in each of which 
both teams have an opportunity to bat the ball and 
to score runs. The players bat in turn and attempt 
to reach the various bases without being put out by 
their opponents. Each year the rules are changed 
in some slight particulars, consequently a beginner 
in baseball must be thoroughly familiar with th^ 
rules of the game before attempting to play. The 
pitcher attempts to pitch the ball over the home 
plate to the catcher and the batsman endeavours 
to hit it. If the ball after being hit is caught by 
one of the opposing players, or if it is thrown to the 
base to which the batsman is running before he 
reaches the base, he is "out." Otherwise he is "safe" 
and will try to make the next base. If he completes 
the circuit of the four bases without being put out, 
he scores a run for his team or nine. When a player 
makes the entire circuit without being forced to 
stop for safety he makes a "home run." A hit 
which gains him a single base only is called a 
"base hit." Similarly if he reaches second base 



334 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

it is a "two-bagger," and third base, a "three- 
bagger." 

After three players are put out, the other side has 
its "innings," and at the completion of nine full 
innings the side having scored the greatest number 
of runs is the winner. The game of baseball has 
become very scientific and the salaries of professional 
players are almost as high as those of the highest 
salaried men in business life. 

The ball used in the game is made of the best 
all wool yarn with a horsehide cover and a rubber 
centre. Baseball bats are usually made of ash. 

BASKET BALL 

A game of ball which may be played either in- 
doors or out, but which is especially adapted to 
in-door play when weather conditions make out-door 
sports impossible. Two baskets suspended on wire 
rings are placed at the two opposite ends of a room 
or gymnasium and the players strive to knock or 
pass the ball from one to another on their own side 
and to throw it so that it will fall into the basket. 
It is not permissible to run with the ball as in Rugby 
football. The ball used is round, but in other re- 
spects resembles the ball used in football. It is 
made in four sections of grained English leather 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 335 

and is inflated by means of a rubber bladder. The 
players use rubber-soled shoes with peculiar knobs, 
ridges, or depressions to prevent slipping. The 
conventional uniform is simply a gymnasium shirt, 
running trousers, and stockings which are rolled down 
just below the knees. 

The game of basket ball is especially adapted 
to women and girls and consequently it is played 
very largely in girls' schools and colleges. 

Any level space may be used for basket ball. 
A convenient size is 40 by 60 feet. The baskets 
used for goals are 18 inches in diameter and are 
fixed 10 feet above the ground or floor. The official 
ball weighs about 18 ounces and is 31 inches in 
circumference. Five players constitute a team. 
The halves are usually twenty minutes, with a ten- 
minute intermission for rest. 

It is not permissible to kick, carry or hold the 
ball. Violation of a rule constitutes a foul and 
gives the opponents a free throw for the basket from 
a point fifteen feet away. A goal made in play 
counts two points and a goal from a foul one point. 

BEAN BAGS 

This game is known to every one by name and 
yet its simple rules are often forgotten. A couple 



836 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

of dozen bean bags are made in two colours of muslin. 
The players stand in two lines opposite each other 
and evenly divided. At the end of the line is a 
clothes basket. The bags are placed on two chairs 
at the opposite end of the line and next to the 
two captains. At a signal the captains select a 
bag and pass it to the next player, who passes it 
along until finally it is dropped into the basket. 
When all the bags are passed they are then taken 
out and passed rapidly back to the starting point. 
The side whose bags have gone up and down the 
line first scores a point. If a bag is dropped in 
transit it must be passed back to the captain, who 
starts it again. Five points usually constitute a 
game. 

BEST COLLEGE ATHLETIC RECORDS 

These records have been made in the Inter- 
collegiate contests which are held annually under 
the Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association of 
America. 

100-yard dash 9% seconds made in 1896 

220-yard dash 21% seconds made in 1896 

440-yard dash 48% seconds made in 1907 

Half-mile run 1 min. 56 seconds made in 1905 

One-mile run 4 min. 17% seconds made in 1909 

Two-mile run 9 min. 27% seconds made in 1909 

Running broad jump 24 feet 43^ in. made in 1899 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 337 

Running high jump 6 feet 33^ in. made in 1907 

Putting 16-pound shot 46 feet 5}/2 ^^- made in 1907 

Throwing the hammer 164 feet 10 in. made in 1902 

Pole vault 12 feet SH in. made in 1909 

120-yard high hurdle 15% seconds made in 1908 

220-yard hurdle 23% seconds made in 1898 

One-mile walk 6 min. 45% seconds made in 1898 

BLIND man's buff 

This game is played in two ways. In each case 
one player is blindfolded and attempts to catch one 
of the others and to identify him by feeling. In 
regular blind man's buflE, the players are allowed 
to run about at will and sometimes the game is 
dangerous to the one blindfolded, but in the game of 
"Still Pon" the one who is "it" is turned several 
times and then announces, "Still Pon no more 
moving," and awards a certain number of steps, which 
may be taken when in danger of capture. After 
this number is exhausted the player must stand 
perfectly still even though he is caught. 

BULL IN THE RING 

In this game the players form a circle with clasped 
hands. To be "bull" is the position of honour. 
The bull is supposed to be locked in by various 
locks of brass, iron, lead, steel, and so on. He 
endeavours to break through the ring by catching 
some of the players oflf their guard. He will then run 



338 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

until captured, and the one who catches him has the 
position of bull for the next game. In playing, it is 
customary for the bull to engage one pair of players 
in conversation by asking some question such as 
''What is your lock made of?" At the answer, 
brass, lead, etc., he will then make a sudden rush 
at some other part of the ring and try to break 
through. 

CALL BALL 

In this game a rubber ball is used. One of the 
players throws it against a wall and as it strikes 
calls out the name of another player, who must catch 
it on its first bounce. If he does so he in turn then 
throws the ball against the wall, but if he misses 
he recovers it as quickly as possible while the rest 
scatter, and calls ''stand," at which signal all the 
players must stop. He then throws it at whoever 
he pleases. If he misses he must place himself 
against the wall and each of the others in turn has 
a free shot at him with the ball. 

CANE RUSH 

This contest is usually held in colleges between 
the rival freshman and sophomore classes. A cane 
is held by some non-contestant and the two classes 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 339 

endeavour by pulling and pushing and hauling to 
reach the cane and to hold their hands on it. At 
the end of a stated time, the class or side having 
the most hands on the cane is declared the winner. 
It is a very rough and sometimes dangerous game 
and in many colleges has been abolished on account 
of serious injuries resulting to some of the contest- 
ants. 

CANOE TILTING 

This is a revival of the ancient game of tilting 
as described in " Ivanhoe," except that the tilters 
use canoes instead of horses and blunt sticks in place 
of spears and lances. The object is for the tilter 
to shove his opponent out of his canoe, meanwhile 
seeing to it that the same imdesirable fate does not 
fall to his own lot. In singles each contestant 
paddles his own canoe with one end of his pike pole, 
but the sport is much greater if each canoe has two 
occupants, one to paddle and the other to do the 
"tilting." 

CAT 

A small block of wood pointed at both ends is 
used in this game. The batter strikes it with a 
light stick and as it flies into the air attempts to 



340 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

bat it with the stick. If the cat is caught the batter 
is out. Otherwise he is entitled to a score equal 
to the number of jumps it will take him to reach the 
place where the cat has fallen. He then returns 
to bat again and continues until he is caught 
out. 

COUNTING-OUT RHYMES 

Almost every section has some favourite counting- 
out rhyme of its own. Probably the two most 
generally used are: 

"ilf?/ ^mother told me to take this one^^ 

and that old classic — 

^*Eeny, meeny, minyy mo. 
Catch a nigger by the toe; 
If he hollersy let him go, 
Eenyy meeny, miny, mo," 

This is also varied into 

'^Ena, mena, mona, mite, 
Pasca, laura, bona, bite. 
Eggs, butter, cheese, bread. 
Stick, stock, stone dead,'' 

The object of a counting-out rhyme is to determine 
who is to be ''it" for a game. As each word is 
pronounced by the counter some one is pointed at. 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 341 

and at the end of the verse the one last pointed at 
is "it." 

COURT TENNIS 

This game, though very similar to rackets and 
squash, is more scientific than either. The court 
is enclosed by four walls. A net midway down the 
court divides the "service" side from the "hazard" 
side. The rackets used in court tennis have long 
handles and a large face. The balls used are the 
same size as tennis balls, but are heavier and stronger. 
In play, the ball rebounds over the court and many 
shots are made against the roof. While somewhat 
similar to lawn tennis, the rules of court tennis are 
extremely complicated. The game is scored just 
as in lawn tennis, except that instead of calling the 
server's score first the marker always announces 
the score of the winner of the last stroke. 

CRICKET 

A game of ball which is generally played in Eng- 
land and the British provinces, but which is not 
very popular in the United States. There are 
two opposite sides or sets of players of eleven 
men each. At two points 22 yards apart are 
placed two wickets 27 inches high and consisting 



342 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

of three sticks called stumps. As in baseball, 
one side takes the field and the other side is at the 
bat. Two men are at bat at a time and it is their 
object to prevent the balls from being bowled so 
that they will strike the wickets. To do this a 
broad bat is used made of willow with a cane handle, 
through which are inserted strips of rubber to give 
greater spring and driving power. The batsman 
will either merely stop the ball with his bat or will 
attempt to drive it. When the ball is being fielded 
the two batsmen exchange wickets, and each exchange 
is counted as a run, and is marked to the credit of 
the batsman or striker. The batsman is allowed 
to bat until he is out. This occurs when the ball 
strikes the wicket and carries away either a 
bail, the top piece, or a stump, one of the 
three sticks. He is also out if he knocks down 
any part of his own wicket or allows the ball 
to do it while he is running, or if he interferes 
with the ball by any part of his person as it 
is being thrown, or if one of the opposing players 
catches a batted ball before it touches the ground, 
as in baseball. 

When ten of the eleven men on a side have been 
put out it constitutes an inning, and the side in the 
field takes its turn at the bat. The game usually 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 343 

consists of two innings, and at its completion the 
side having scored the greater number of runs is 
the winner. The eleven positions on a cricket 
team are called bowler, wicket-keeper, long stop, 
slip, point cover-slip, cover-point, mid-off , long- 
leg, square-leg, mid-on. The one at bat is, as 
in baseball, called the batsman. The two 
lines between which the batsmen stand while 
batting are called ''popping creases" and "bowl- 
ing creases." 

CROQUET 

A game played with wooden balls and mallets, 
on a flat piece of ground. The game consists in 
driving the ball around a circuitous course through 
various wire rings called "wickets" and, after 
striking a wooden peg or post, returning to the 
starting place. Any number may play croquet 
either independently or on sides. Each player may 
continue making shots as long as he either goes 
through a wicket, hits the peg or post, or hits the 
ball of an opponent. In this latter case he may 
place his ball against that of his opponent and, hold- 
ing the former with his foot, drive his opponent's 
ball as far as possible from the croquet ground. 
He then also has another shot at his wicket. 



344 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

A croquet set consists of mallets, balls, wickets, 
and stakes and may be bought for two or three 
dollars. Experts use mallets with much shorter 
handles than those in common sets. They are 
made of either maple, dogwood, or persimmon. 
In place of wooden balls, championship and expert 
games are often played with balls made of a patented 
composition. All croquet implements are usually 
painted in bright colours. The game of "roque" 
is very similar to croquet. 

Croquet can be made more difficult by using 
narrow arches or wickets . Hard rubber balls are 
more satisfactory than wood and also much more 
expensive. 

As a rule the colours played in order are red, white, 
blue and black. According to the rules any kind of 
a mallet may be used, depending upon the individual 
preference of the player. 

CURLING 

An ancient Scotch game played on the ice, in 
which the contestants slide large flat stones, called 
curling stones, from one point to another. These 
points or marks are called "tees." In playing, 
an opportunity for skill is shown in knocking an 
opponent out of the way, and also in using a 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 345 

broom ahead of the stone as it sHdes along to influ- 
ence its rate of speed. 

At the present time the greatest curhng country- 
is Canada. CurHng is one of the few outdoor 
games that are played without a ball of some 
kind. 

dixie's land 

This game is also called "Tommy Tiddler's Land." 
It is a game of tag in which a certain portion of the 
playground is marked off as the "land." The one 
who is "it" endeavours to catch the others as they 
invade his land. When a player is tagged he also 
becomes "it," and so on until the game ends because 
all the invaders are captured. The game is especial- 
ly interesting because of the variety of verses and 
rhymes used in various parts of the country to taunt 
the one who is "it" as they come on his land. 

DUCK ON A ROCK 

This game is also called "Boulder Up." It is 
not customary to "count out" to decide it. For 
this game usually some one suggests, "Let's play 
Duck on a Rock," and then every one scurries 
around to find an appropriate stone, or "duck." 
As fast as they are found the fact is announced by 



346 OUTDOOR AND SPORTS 

the cry, "My one duck, " " My two duck, " etc. The 

last boy to find a stone is "drake," or "it." 

The drake is larger than the ducks and is placed 
on an elevated position such as a boulder. Then 
from a specified distance ducks attempt to hit the 
drake and to knock him from his position. If they 
miss they are in danger of being tagged by the drake, 
as it is his privilege to tag any player who is not in 
possession of his duck. If, however, the drake 
is knocked from his perch, the ducks have the 
privilege of rushing in and recovering their stones, 
but unless they do so before the drake replaces his 
stone on the rock they may be tagged. The first 
one tagged becomes "it" and the drake becomes a 
duck. 

FAT 

This is the universal game of marbles. It is 
sometimes called "Yank," or ''Knuckle There." A 
ring is scratched in the ground a foot or two in 
diameter. It is then divided into four parts by 
two lines drawn through the diameter. The first 
step is for each player to "lay a duck," which in 
simple language means to enter a marble to be played 
for. This is his entrance fee and may be either a 
"dub," an "alley," a "crystal," or sometimes a 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 347 

"real," although this is very rare as well as extrav- 
agant. About ten feet from this ring a line is 
made called a "taw line." The first player, usually 
determined as soon as school is out by his having 
shouted, " First shot, fat!" stands behind the taw line 
and shoots to knock out a marble. If he is success- 
ful he continues shooting; if not he loses his turn 
and Number 2 shoots. Number 1 after his first shot 
from the taw line must then shoot from wherever 
his marble lies. If Number 2 can hit Number 1 
he has a right to claim all the marbles that Number 
1 has knocked out of the ring. In this way it is 
very much to the advantage of each player to leave 
himself as far from the taw line as possible. 

FEATHER RACE 

The contestants endeavour to blow a feather over 
a certain course in the shortest time. The rule 
is that the feather must not be touched with the 
hands. Out of doors this game is only possible 
on a very still day. 

FOOT AND A HALF 

This is a game of "Leap Frog" also called "Par" 
or "Paw." One of the boys is chosen "down," who 
leans over and gives a "back" to the rest, who 



348 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

follow leader, usually the boy who suggests the game. 
He will start making an easy jump at first and 
over "down's" back, then gradually increase the dis- 
tance of the point at which he lands, and each of 
those following must clear this line or become "it" 
themselves. The leader must also surpass his 
previous jumps each time or he becomes "down" 
himself. In this way the smaller or less agile boys 
have a more equal chance with the stronger ones. 

FOOTBALL 

The present game of football as played in Ameri- 
can schools and colleges is a development of the 
English game of Rugby. There are twenty-two 
players, eleven on a side or team. The game is 
played on a level field, at each end of which are goal 
posts through which the team having the ball in 
its possession attempts to force or "rush" it, while 
their opponents by various means, such as tackling, 
shoving or blocking, strive to prevent the ball from 
being successfully forced behind the goal line or from 
being kicked over the crossbar between the goal- 
posts. A football field is 330 feet long by 160 feet 
wide. It is usually marked out with white lines 
five yards apart, which gives the field the name of 
"gridiron." The various positions on a football 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 349 

team are centre rush, right and left guards, right and 
left tackles, right and left ends, quarter-back, 
right and left half-back, and full-back. As in base- 
ball, the rules of football are constantly being changed 
and the game as played ten or fifteen years ago is 
very different from the modern game. The various 
changes in rules have been made with a view to 
making the game less dangerous to the players and 
more interesting to the spectator. 

The principal scores in football are the "touch- 
down" and the "field goal." In a touchdown the 
ball is carried by one of the players and touched 
on the ground behind the opponents' goal line. 
In a field goal, or, as it is often called, " a goal from the 
field," the ball is kicked over the crossbar between the 
goal posts. In a field goal the player executing it 
must not kick the ball until after it has touched the 
ground. Such a kick is called a "drop kick" as 
distinguished from a "punt" where the ball is re- 
leased from the hands and immediately kicked 
before touching the ground. A team in possession 
of the ball is allowed a certain number of attempts 
to advance it the required distance. Each of these 
attempts is called a "down." If they fail to gain 
the necessary distance, the ball goes to their oppo- 
nents. It is customary on the last attempt, or 



350 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

down, to kick the ball so that when the opposing 
team obtains possession of it it will be as far as 
possible from the goal line toward which they are 
rushing. In this play a "punt" is allowed. There 
are also other scores. A safety is made when a 
team is forced to touch the ball down behind its 
own goal line. 

The ball used in American football is a long oval 
case made of leather and inflated by means of a 
rubber bag or envelope. The football player's 
uniform consists of a heavily padded pair of trousers 
made of canvas, moleskin, khaki or other material, 
a jacket made of the same material, a tight-fitting 
jersey with elbow and shoulder pads, heavy stockings, 
and cleated shoes. Players will often use other pads, 
braces and guards to protect them from injury. 
Football is usually played in the fall months after 
baseball has been discontinued on account of the 
cold weather. A full game consists of four fifteen- 
minute periods. 

GARDEN HOCKEY 

This game is played between two parallel straight 
lines, 3 feet 6 inches apart and marked on the lawn 
with two strips of tape. At the opposite two ends 
of the tape are two goal posts 14 inches apart with 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 351 

a crossbar. The length of the tapes should be 
36 feet when two or four players engage in the game, 
and may be extended for a greater number. The 
game is played with balls and hockey sticks. The 
game is started by placing the ball in the centre of 
the field. The two captains then face each other 
and at a signal strike off. If the ball is driven 
outside the tape boundaries it must be returned 
to the centre of the field opposite the place where 
it crossed the line. The object of the game is to 
score a goal through your opponents' goal posts 
as in ice hockey. If a player steps over 
the tape into the playing space he commits a 
foul. The penalty for a foul is a free hit for his 
opponents. 

GOLF 

A game played over an extensive piece of ground 
which is divided into certain arbitrary divisions 
called holes. A golf course is usually undulating 
with the holes laid out to afford the greatest possible 
variety of play. The ordinary course consists of 
either nine or eighteen holes from 100 to 500 yards 
apart. An ideal course is about 6000 yards long. 
The holes which mark the termination of a playing 
section consist of tin cans 4 inches in diameter 



352 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

sunk into and flush with the level of the surrounding 
turf, which is called "the putting green." The 
game is played with a gutta-percha ball weighing 
about 1^ ounces and with a set of "clubs" of 
various odd shapes and for making shots under 
various conditions. Usually a boy accompanies 
each player to carry his clubs. Such boys are 
called "caddies." The clubs are peculiarly named 
and it is optional with each player to have as 
many clubs as he desires. Some of the more com- 
mon ones are called "driver," "brassie," "cleek," 
"iron," mashie," "niblick," "putter," and "loft- 
ing iron." 

The game, which may be played by either two 
or four players, consists in endeavouring to drive 
the ball over the entire course from hole to hole in 
the fewest possible number of strokes. At the start 
a player takes his position on what is called the 
"teeing ground" and drives the ball in the direction 
of the first hole, the position of which is shown 
in the distance by a flag or tin sign with a 
number. Before driving he is privileged to 
place the ball on a tiny mound of earth or sand 
which is called a "tee." The players drive in or- 
der and then continue making shots toward 
the hole until finally they have all "holed out" by 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 35S 

"putting" their balls into the hole, and the lowest 
score wins the hole. 

Golf is a game in which form is more essential than 
physical strength and which is adapted for elderly 
people as well as the young. The wooden clubs are 
usually made with either dogwood or persimmon 
heads and with split hickory handles or shafts. 
The handles are usually wound with a leather grip. 
Golf clubs of good quality will cost from two to 
three dollars apiece and a set for most purposes will 
consist of four to six clubs. The caddy bag to carry 
the clubs is made of canvas or leather and will cost 
from two dollars up. Standard quality golf balls 
will cost about nine dollars a dozen. Almost any 
loose-fitting outdoor costume is suitable for playing 
golf and the tendency in recent years is to wear long 
trousers in preference to what are known as "golf 
trousers." 

A golf course — sometimes called a "links," from 
a Scotch word meaning a flat stretch of ground 
near the seashore — should be kept in good condition 
in order to enjoy the game properly. The leading 
golf clubs maintain a large force of men who are 
constantly cutting the grass, repairing damages to 
the turf, and rolling the greens. For this reason it 
is a game only adapted to club control unless one is 



354 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

very wealthy and can afford to maintain private 
links. 

GOLF-CROQUET 

This game may be played either by two or four 
persons. Wickets are placed at irregular distances, 
and the object of the game is to drive a wooden 
ball 2% inches in diameter through these wickets. 
It may be played either as "all strokes," in which 
the total number of strokes to get through all the 
wickets is the final score, or as in golf, ''all wickets," 
in which the score for each wicket is taken separately, 
as each hole in golf is played. The mallet used is 
somewhat different from a croquet mallet. The 
handle is longer and a bevel is made on one end to 
raise or "loft" the ball as in golf. 

The size of a golf -croquet course will depend upon 
the field available. A field 200 yards long will make 
a good six-wicket course. 

HAB-ENIHAN 

This game is played with smooth stones about the 
size of a butter dish. A target is marked on the sand 
or on any smooth piece of ground, or if played on 
the grass the target must be marked with lime 
similar to marks on a tennis court. The outside 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 355 

circle of the target should be six feet in diameter, 
and every six inches another circle described with a 
piece of string and two pegs for a compass. 

The object of the game is to stand at a stated 
distance from the "enihan," or target, and to toss 
the ''habs" as in the game of quoits. The player 
getting the best score counting from the inside ring 
or bull's-eye wins the game. 

HALEY OVER 

The players, equally divided, take positions on 
opposite sides of a building such as a barn, so that 
they can not be seen by their opponents. A player 
on one side then throws the ball over the roof and 
one of his opponents attempts to catch it and to 
rush around the corner of the building and throw it 
at one of the opposing side. If he succeeds, the one 
hit is a prisoner of war and must go over to the other 
side. The game continues until all of one side are 
captured. 

HAND BALL 

A game of ancient Irish origin which is much 
played by baseball players and other athletes to 
keep in good condition during the winter when 
most outdoor sports are impossible. 

A regulation hand ball court has a back wall 30 



356 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

feet high and 50 feet wide. Each game consists of 
twenty-one "aces." The ball is 1]/^ inches in diam- 
eter and weighs 1^ ounces. The ball is served \nd 
returned against the playing wall just as in many of 
the other indoor games and is similar in principle to 
squash and rackets. 

HAND POLO 

A game played with a tennis ball in which two op- 
posing sides of six players each endeavour to score goals 
by striking the ball with the hands. The ball must be 
struck with the open hand. In play, the contestants 
oppose each other by shouldering and bucking and 
in this way the game can be made a dangerous one. 

The goal is made into a cage form 3 feet 6 inches 
square. At the beginning of the game the ball is 
placed in the centre of the playing surface and the 
players rush for it. The umpire in hand polo 
is a very important official and calls all fouls, such 
as tripping, catching, holding, kicking, pushing, 
or throwing an opponent. Three fouls will count 
as a goal for the opponents. 

HAND TENNIS 

A game of lawn tennis is which the hand is used 
in place of a racket. A hand tennis court is smaller 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 357 

than a regulation tennis court. Its dimensions 
are 40 feet long and 16 feet wide. The net 
is 2 feet high. The server is called the "hand 
in" and his opponent the "hand out." A player 
first scoring twenty-five points wins the game. 
A player can only score when he is the 
server. 

A foul line is drawn 3 feet on each side of the net, 
inside of which play is not allowed. In all essential 
particulars of the rules the game is similar to lawn 
tennis. 

HAT BALL 

This game is very similar to Roley. Boley or 
Nigger Baby except that hats are used instead of 
hollows in the ground. The ball is tossed to the hats 
and the first boy to get five stones, or "babies," in 
his hat has to crawl through the legs of his op- 
ponents and submit to the punishment of being 
paddled. 

HIGH KICK 

A tin pan or wooden disk is suspended from a 
frame by means of a string and the contestants 
in turn kick it as it is drawn higher and higher 
until finally, as in high jumping, it reaches a point 



858 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

where the survivor alone succeeds in touching it with 
his toe. 

HOCKEY 

Hockey is usually played on the ice by players on 
skates, although, like the old game of shinney, 
it may be played on any level piece of ground. 
The hockey stick is a curved piece of Canadian rock 
elm with a flat blade. Instead of a ball the modern 
game of ice hockey is played with a rubber disk 
called a "puck." In hockey, as in many other 
games, the whole object is to drive the puck into 
your opponents' goal and to prevent them from 
driving it into yours. Almost any number of boys 
can play hockey, but a modern team consists of five 
players. Hockey skates are of special construction 
with long flat blades attached to the shoes. The 
standard length of blade is from 143^2 to 153^^ inches. 
They cost from three to six dollars. The hockey 
player's uniform is a jersey, either padded trousers or 
tights, depending upon his position, and padded shin 
guards for the goal tenders. 

HOP OVER 

All but one of the players, form a ring standing 
about two feet apart. Then by some " counting out" 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 359 

rhyme some one is made "it." He then takes his 
place in the centre of the circle, holding a piece of 
stout string on the end of which is tied a small weight 
or a book. He whirls the string about and tries 
to strike the feet or ankles of some one in the circle, 
who must hop quickly as the string comes near him. 
If he fails to " hop over " he becomes " it." 

HOP SCOTCH 

Hop scotch is a game that is played by children 
all over the world. A court about 20 feet long and 
4 or 5 feet wide is drawn with chalk, coal, or a 
piece of soft brick on the sidewalk or scratched with 
a pointed stick on a piece of level ground. A line 
called the "taw line" is drawn a short distance from 
the court. The court is divided into various rectan- 
gles, usually eleven divisions, although this varies in 
diflFerent sections. At the end of the court a half 
circle is drawn, variously called the "cat's cradle," 
"pot," or "plum pudding." The players decide who 
is to be first, second, etc., and a flat stone or piece 
of broken crockery or sometimes a folded piece of 
tin is placed in division No. 1. The stone is called 
"potsherd." The object of the game is to hop on 
one foot and to shoot the potsherd in and out of 
the court through the various divisions until they are 



360 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

all played. He then hops and straddles through 
the court. Whenever he fails to do the required 
thing the next player takes his turn. 

HUNT THE SHEEP 

Two captains are chosen and the players divided 
into equal sides. One side stays in the home goal 
and the other side finds a hiding place. The captain 
of the side that is hidden or ''out" then goes back 
to the other side and they march in a straight line 
to find the hidden sheep. When they approach the 
hiding place their own captain shouts, "Apple!" 
which is a warning that danger is near. When he 
is sure of their capture or discovery he shouts, "Run, 
sheep, run!" and all the party make a dash for the 
goal. 

INTERCOLLEGIATE AMATEUR ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION 
OF AMERICA 

This association controls the field athletic contests 
between the colleges known as the "IntercoUe- 
giates." 

It is generally known as the I. C. A. A. A. A. 
To win a point for one's college in this contest is 
the highest honour that a track athlete may 
obtain. 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 361 

In these games, which take place annually, the 
following thirteen events are contested for: 

Mile run Two-mile run 

Shotput 880-yard run 

440-yard run 220-yard low hurdles 

120-yard hardies Pole vault 

100-yard dash Broad jump 

Running high jump 220-yard dash 
Hammer throw 

I SPY 

This game is sometimes called "Hide and 
Seek." One of the players is made ''it" by any 
of the familiar counting-out rhymes. The rest 
then secure a hiding place while he counts 
fifty or one hundred. A certain tree or fence 
corner is considered ''home." "It" then at- 
tempts to spy his hidden playmates in their 
hiding places and to run "home" shouting, "I 
spy" and their names. If the one discovered 
can get home before "it," he does so, shouting, 
"In free!" with all the breath that is left in 
him. The game is especially interesting just 
at dusk, when the uncertain light makes the "outs" 
brave in approaching home without detec- 
tion. If "it" succeeds in capturing all the 



362 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

players the first one caught is "it" for the next 
game. 

JACK FAGOTS 

This game is the same in principle as Jackstraws 
except that fagots or sticks of wood two feet long are 
used in place of jackstraws. They are removed 
from a pile with a crooked stick and must be taken 
out one at a time without disturbing the rest. The 
number of sticks removed constitutes a player's 
score. When any stick other than the one he is 
trying for is moved he loses his turn. The next 
player must attempt to remove the same stick 
that the other failed on. The game is won by the 
player having the greatest number of sticks to his 
credit. 

JAPANESE FAN BALL 

This game is especially adapted for a lawn party 
for girls. Either Japanese fans or the ordinary palm- 
leaf fans will do for rackets. The balls are made of 
paper and should be six or eight inches in diameter 
and in various colours. At opposite ends of a space 
about the size of a tennis court are erected goal- 
posts similar to those used in football, but only six 
feet above ground. These may be made of light 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 363 

strips of wood. There is also a similar pair of posts 
and a crossbar midway between the goals. 

The game is played by two contestants at a time. 
Each takes an opposite end of the court and tosses 
the ball into the air. Then by vigorous fanning 
she endeavours to keep it aloft and to drive it over 
the opponent's goal-post. At the middle posts the 
ball must be *' fanned" under the crossbar. » If the 
ball falls to the ground it may be picked up on the fan 
and tossed aloft again, but it must not be touched by 
the hands. The winner is the one who first drives 
the ball the length of the court and over the crossbar. 

KICK THE STICK 

One player is chosen to be "it" and the rest are 
given a count of twenty-five or fifty to hide. A 
stick is leaned against a tree or wall and this is the 
home goal. As soon as the goal keeper can spy one 
of the players he runs in and touches the stick and 
makes a prisoner, who must come in and stand be- 
hind the stick. If one of the free players can run 
in and kick the stick before the goal tender touches 
it, he frees all the rest and they scurry to a place of 
hiding before the stick can again be set up and the 
count of twenty-five made. As the object of the 
game is to free your fellow-prisoners, the free players 



364 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

will attempt all sorts of ruses to approach the stick 
without being seen or to make a dash for it in hope 
of kicking it ahead of the goal keeper. The game 
is over when all the players are captured, and the 
first prisoner is "it" for the next game. 

KING OF THE CASTLE 

This can be made a very rough game, as it simply 
consists in a player taking a position on a mound or 
hillock and defying any one to dislodge him from his 
position by the taunting words: 

"/'m the King of the Castle, 
Get down you cowardly rascaV^ 

The rest try to shove him from his position and to 
hold it successfully against all comers themselves. 
The game, if played fairly, simply consists in fair 
pulls and pushes without grasping clothing, but if 
played roughly it is almost a "free-for-all" fight. 

LACROSSE 

A game of ball played by two opposing teams of 
twelve players each. The lacrosse field is a level 
piece of ground with net or wire goals at each end. 
The players strive to hurl the ball into their oppo- 
nents' goal by means of a lacrosse stick or "crosse." 
This is a peculiar bent stick with a shallow gut net at 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 365 

one end. It somewhat resembles a tennis racket, but is 
more like a snowshoe with a handle. The game origi- 
nated with the Indians and is much played in Canada. 

In playing, the ball must not be touched with the 
hands, but is hurled from one player to another by the 
"lacrosses" until it is possible to attempt for a goal. 
It is also passed when a player is in danger of losing 
the ball. 

Lacrosse sticks cost from two to five dollars each 
and are made of hickory with rawhide strings. 
The players wear specially padded gloves to protect 
the knuckles. The usual uniform for lacrosse is 
a tight-fitting jersey and running trousers. 

LAWN BOWLS 

This is a very old game and of great historic 
importance. The famous Bowling Green in New 
York City was named from a small park where the 
game was played by New Yorkers before the Rev- 
olution. The game is played with wooden balls 
five inches in diameter and painted in various gay 
colours. Usually lignum vitae is the material used, 
They are not perfectly round but either slightly 
flattened at the poles into an "oblate spheroid" or 
made into an oval something like a modern football. 
Each player uses two balls, which are numbered. 



366 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

A white ball, called a **jack ball," is then thrown 
or placed at the end of the bowling green or lawn and 
the players in turn deliver their balls or "bowl" 
toward the jack. The whole game consists in plac- 
ing your ball as near to the jack as possible and of 
knocking away the balls of your opponents. It is 
also possible to strike the jack and to drive it nearer 
to where the balls of your side are lying. When all 
the players have bowled, the two balls nearest the 
jack each count a point for the side owning it. 
The game if played by sides is somewhat different 
from a two-handed contest. The main point first 
is to deliver the ball as near to the jack as possible 
and then to form a barrier or ''guard" behind it 
with succeeding balls to block those of your adver- 
saries. Sometimes the Jack is placed in the middle 
of the green and the teams face each other and bowl 
from opposite ends. A green is about seventy feet 
square with closely cropped grass. Four players form 
a ''rink" and are named "leader," "second," "third," 
and "skip," or captain. The position from which 
the balls are delivered is called the "footer." It is 
usually a piece of cloth or canvas three feet square. 

LAWN BOWLING 

This game is similar in every respect to indoor 
bowling except that no regular alley is used. A net 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 367 

for a backstop is necessary. The pins are set upon 
a flat surface on a lawn and the players endeavour 
to knock down as many pins as possible in three 
attempts. The scoring is the same as in indoor 
bowling. To knock down all ten pins with one ball 
is called a "strike," in two attempts it is a ''spare." 
In the score, the strike counts ten for the player and 
in addition also whatever he gets on the next two 
balls. Likewise he will count ten for a spare, but only 
what he gets on one ball for a bonus. As a conse- 
quence the maximum or perfect score in bowling 
is 300, which is a series of ten strikes and two more 
attempts in which he knocks down all the pins. 
In lawn bowling the scores are very low as compared 
with the indoor game, where good players will often 
average close to 200 on alleys where they are accus- 
tomed to bowl. Lawn bowling is a different game 
from lawn bowls, which is described in a preceding 
paragraph. 

LAWN HOCKEY 

This game is played on a field a little smaller than 
a football field, being 110 yards long and from 50 
to 60 yards wide. The ball used is an ordinary 
cricket ball. The goals are two upright posts 12 
feet apart and with a crossbar 7 feet from the ground. 



368 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

Eleven men on a side constitute a full team, but the 
game may be played with a fewer number. The 
positions are known as three forwards, five rushes, 
two backs or guards, and the goal tender. 

The object of the game is very simple, being to 
drive the ball between your opponents' goals. The 
ordinary ice hockey stick will be satisfactory to play 
with. The principal thing to remember in lawn 
hockey is not to commit a "foul," the penalty for 
which is a *'free hit" at the ball by your opponents. 
It is a foul to raise the stick above the shoulders 
in making a stroke, to kick the ball (except for the 
goal tender), to play with the back of the stick, to 
hit the ball other than from right to left, and any 
form of rough play such as tripping, pushing, kicking, 
or striking. 

Lawn hockey is an excellent game and is really 
the old game of "shinney" or ''shinty" played 
scientifically and with definite rules. 

LAWN SKITTLES 

From a stout pole which is firmly fixed in the 
ground a heavy ball is suspended by means of a 
rope fastened to the top of the pole. Two flat 
pieces of stone or concrete are placed on opposite 
sides of the pole. The game is played with nine- 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 369 

pins, which are set up on one stone, the player 
standing on the other and endeavouring by huriing 
tke ball to strike down a maximum number of pins. 
Usually he has three chances and the number of 
pins knocked down constitutes his score. 

LAWN TENNIS (sEE CHAPTER ON TENNIs) 

A game of ball played on a level piece of ground, 
called a court, by two, three, or four persons. When 
two play the game is called "singles," and when 
four play it is called "'doubles." The game is 
played with a rubber ball, and rackets made by 
stringing gut on a wooden frame. The dimensions 
of a tennis court are 36 by 78 feet. In addition to 
this, space must be allowed for the players to run 
back, and it is customary to lay out a court at least 
50 by 100 feet to give plenty of playing space. The 
court is divided into various lines, either by means 
of lime applied with a brush or by tapes. Midway 
between the two rear lines and in the centre of the 
court a net is stretched, supported by posts. 

In playing one of the players has the serve — that 
is, he attempts to strike the ball so that it will go 
over the net and into a specified space on the opposite 
side of the net. His opponent then attempts to 
return the serve — that is, to strike the ball either 



370 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

on the fly or the first bound and knock it back over 
the net somewhere within the playing space as 
determined by the hnes. In this way the ball is 
volleyed or knocked back and forth until one of 
the players fails either to return it over the net or 
into the required space. To fail in this counts his 
opponents a point. Four points constitute a game 
except where both sides have obtained three points, 
in which case one side to win must secure two points 
in succession. 

The score is not counted as 1, 2, 3, and 4, but 15, 
30, 40, game. When both sides are at 40 it is called 
"deuce." At this point a lead of two is necessary 
to win. The side winning one of the two points 
at this stage is said to have the ''advantage," or, as 
it is expressed, "vantage in" or "vantage out," 
depending upon whether it is the side of the server 
or his opponents, the server's score always being 
called first. 

A set of tennis consists of enough games to per- 
mit one side to win six, or if both are at five games 
won, to win two games over their opponents. 

LAST TAG 

There are a great many games of "tag" that are 
familiar to boys and girls. One of the common 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 371 

games is **last tag," which simply means that a 
boy tags another and makes him "it" before leaving 
the party on his way home. It is the common 
boys' method of saying "good-bye" when leaving 
school for home. The principal rule of last tag is 
that there is "no tagging back." The boy who is 
"it" must not attempt to tag the one who tagged 
him, but must run after some one else. It is a point 
of honour with a boy not to be left with "last tag" 
against him, but he must try to run some one else 
down, when he is then immune and can watch the 
game in safety, or can leave for home with no blot on 
his escutcheon. 

LUGE-ING 

A form of coasting very much practised in Switz- 
erland at the winter resorts where the sled used 
is similar to our American child's sled with open 
framework instead of a toboggan or the more 
modern flexible flyer which is generally used by 
boys in America. 

MARATHON RACE 

A long distance race, held in connection with the 
Olympic Games and named from a famous event in 
Greek history. The accepted Marathon distance is 26 



372 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

miles, 385 yards. The race was won at the Olym- 
pic Games held in England in 1908 by John 
Hayes, an American, in 2 hours 44 minutes 
20 2-5 seconds. 

OLYMPIC GAMES 

The Olympic Games are open to the athletes of 
the world. The following events are contested for: 



60-metre run 
100-metre run 
200-metre run 
400-metre run 
800-metre run 
1500-metre run 
110-metre hurdles 
200-metre hurdles 
400-metre hurdles 
3200-metre steeplechase 
2500-metre steeplechase 
4000-metre steeplechase 
Running long jump 
Running high jump 
Running triple jump 
Standing broad jump 
Standing high jump 
Standing triple jump 
Pole vault 
Shot put 



Discus throwing 

Throwing 16-pound hammer 

Throwing 56-pound weight 

Marathon race 

Weight hfting, one hand 

Weight lifting, two hands 

Dumb-bell competition 

Tug-of-war 

Team race 

Team race 3 miles 

Five-mile run 

Throwing stone 

Throwing javelin 

Throwing javelin held 

middle 
Penthathlon 
1500-metre walk 
3500-metre walk 
10-mile walk 
Throwing discus Greek style 



MARBLES 

There is a large variety of games with marbles 
and the expressions used are universal. Boys 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 373 

usually have one shooter made from agate which 
they call a "real." To change the position of the 
shooter is called ''roundings," and to object to this 
or to any other play is expressed by the word *'fen." 
The common game of marbles is to make a rectangu- 
lar ring and to shoot from a line and endeavour to 
knock the marbles or ''mibs" of one's opponents 
out of the square. A similar game is to place all 
the mibs in a line in an oval and to roll the 
shooter from a distance. The one coming near- 
est to the oval has "first shot" and continues 
to shoot as long as he drives out a marble and 
"sticks" in the oval himself. Reals are often 
supposed to have superior sticking qualities. Play- 
ing marbles "for keeps" is really gambling 
and should be discouraged. The knuckle dab- 
ster is a small piece of cloth or leather that boys 
use to rest the hand on when in the act of shoot- 
ing. The best kind of a "dabster" is made from 
a mole's skin. 

NAMES OF MARBLES 

The common marbles used by boys everywhere 
are called mibs, fivers, commies, migs, megs, alleys, 
and dubs. A very large marble is a bumbo and a 
very small one a peawee. Glass marbles are called 
crystals and those made of agate are called reals. 



374 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

The choicest real is supposed to be green and is 
called a "mossie" or "moss real." 

MUMBLETY PEG 

This game is played with a penknife. A piece 
of turf is usually the best place to play. Various 
positions for throwing the knife are tried by each 
player, following a regular order of procedure, until 
he misses, when the knife is surrendered to the next 
in turn. When he receives the knife each player 
tries the feat at which he failed before. The last 
player to accomplish all the feats has the pleasure 
of "pulling the peg." The peg consists of a wedge- 
shaped piece of wood the length of the knife blade 
which is driven into the ground by the back of the 
knife and must be pulled by the teeth of the unfortu- 
nate one who was last to complete the necessary 
feats. The winner has the honour of driving the 
peg, usually three blows with his eyes open and three 
with them closed. If he succeeds in driving it out of 
sight the feat is considered especially creditable and 
the loser is greeted with the cry, "Root! Root!" 
which means that he must remove the sod and earth 
with his teeth before he can get a grip on the peg 
top. There are about twenty-four feats or "figures " 
to be gone through in a game of mumblety peg, 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 375 

throwing the knife from various positions both right 
and left handed. In each feat the successful result 
is measured by having the knife stick into the ground 
at such an angle so that there is room for two fingers 
to be inserted under the end of the handle without 
disturbing the knife. 

ONE OLD CAT 

This is a modified game of baseball that may be 
played by three or four. Generally there is only one 
base to run to, and besides the batter, pitcher, and 
catcher the rest of the players are fielders. Any one 
catching a fly ball puts the batter out and takes his 
turn at bat, or in another modification of the game, 
when one is put out each player advances a step nearer 
to batsman's position, the pitcher going in to bat, 
the catcher becoming pitcher, first fielder becoming 
catcher, and so on, the batsman becoming "last 
fielder." 

PASS IT 

This game may be played on a lawn. Four clothes 
baskets are required as well as a variety of objects 
of various sizes and kinds, such as spools of thread, 
pillows, books, matches, balls, pencils, umbrellas, 
pins, and so on. Two captains are chosen and each 
selects a team, which stands in line facing each other. 



376 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

Two of the baskets are jBUed with the various articles 
and these two baskets are placed at the right hand 
of the two captains. The empty baskets are on the 
opposite ends of the line. At a signal the captains 
select an object and pass it to the next in line. He 
in turn passes it to his left and finally it is dropped into 
the empty basket. If the object should be dropped in 
transit it must go back to the captain and be passed 
down the line again. Two umpires are desirable, 
who can report the progress of the game to their 
own side as well as keep an eye on their opponents. 

PELOTA 

A game similar to racquets, sometimes called 
'* Jai-a-li," that is much played in Spain and 
in Mexico. The game is played with a narrow 
scoop-like wicker basket or racket which is fastened 
to the wrist. The players catch the ball in this 
device and hurl it with terrific force against the wall 
of the court. Pelota is a hard, fast game, and some- 
times serious injuries result from playing it. 

PLUG IN THE RING 

This is the universal game that boys play with 
tops. A ring six feet in diameter is described on the 
ground and each player puts a top called a "bait" 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 377 

in the centre. The baits are usually tops of little 
value. The "plugger," however, is the top used 
to shoot with and as a rule is the boy's choicest one. 
As soon as the players can wind their tops they 
stand with their toes on the line and endeavour to 
strike one of the baits in such a way as to knock 
it out of the circle and still leave their own tops 
within the circle and spinning. If they miss, the 
top must be left spinning until it "dies." If it 
fails to roll out of the ring, the owner must place 
another bait top in the ring, but if it leaves the circle 
he may continue shooting. It is possible to play 
tops for ''keeps," but, like marbles for "keeps," it 
should be discouraged, as it is gambling. 

POLO OR EQUESTRIAN POLO 

A game played on horseback, which originated in 
Eastern countries and was first played by the English 
in India. It has been introduced both into England 
and America. Polo is a rich man's game and re- 
quires a great deal of skill in horsemanship as well as 
nerve. A polo team consists of four men, each of whom 
must have a stable of several horses. These horses, or 
" polo ponies, " are trained carefully, and a well-trained 
pony is as essential to good playing as a skilful rider. 

The game is played with a mallet, the head of 



S78 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

which is usually ash, dogwood, or persimmon, and 
has a handle about 50 inches long. The ball is either 
willow or basswood. The principle of the game is 
similar to nearly all of the outdoor games played 
with a ball: that of driving it into the opponents' 
goal, meanwhile preventing them from making a 
score on one's own goal. 

POTATO RACE 

In this game as many rows of potatoes are laid 
as there are players. They should be placed about 
five feet apart. The race consists in picking up all 
of the potatoes, one at a time, and carrying them 
to the starting point, making a separate trip for 
each potato. At the end of the line there should 
be a basket or butter tub to drop them into. The 
game is sometimes made more difiicult by forcing 
the contestants to carry the potatoes on a teaspoon. 

prisoner's base 

Two captains select sides. They then mark out 
on the ground two bases, or homes. They also mark 
out two "prisons" near each home base. Then 
each side stands in its own home and a player runs 
out and advances toward the enemy's home. One 
of the enemy will then run out and endeavour to 
tag him before he can run back to his own base. 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 379 

and one of his side will try to tag the enemy, the 
rule being that each in turn must have left his 
home after his opponent. If a player is tagged, 
he becomes a prisoner of the other side and is put 
into the prison. The successful tagger may then 
return to his home without danger of being tagged. 
A prisoner may be rescued at any time if one of 
his side can elude the opponents and tag him free 
from prison. The game ends when all of one side 
are made prisoners. 

PUSH BALL 

A game usually played on foot but sometimes on 
horseback, in which the object is to push or force a 
huge ball over the opponents' goal line. A regula- 
tion "push ball" is six feet in diameter and costs 
three hundred dollars. 

In push ball almost any number may play, but 
as weight counts, the sides should be divided as evenly 
as possible. 

QUOITS 

A game played with flattish malleable iron or 
rubber rings about nine inches in diameter and con- 
vex on the upper side, which the players endeavour 
to loss or pitch so that they will encircle a pin or 



380 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

peg driven into the ground, or to come nearer to 
this peg than their opponents. The peg is called 
a "hob." A certain form of quoits is played with 
horseshoes throughout the country districts of 
America. A quoit player endeavours to give the 
quoit such a position in mid-air that it will not roll 
but will cut into the ground at the point where it 
lands. The game is remotely similar to the ancient 
Greek game of throwing the discus. Iron quoits 
may be purchased for a dollar a set. 

The average weight of the quoits used by experts 
is from seven to nine pounds each. Sixty-one 
points constitute a game. The distance from the 
peg shall be either 10, 15 or 18 yards. For a 
space three feet around the pin or peg the ground 
should be clay. In match games, all quoits that fall 
outside a radius of 18 inches from the centre of the 
pin are "foul," and do not count in the score. 

RACQUETS OR RACKETS 

One of the numerous court games similar to lawn 
tennis that is now finding public favour, but played 
in a semi-indoor court. A racquet court is 31 
feet 6 inches wide and about 63 feet long. The 
front wall, against which the ball is served, has a 
line 8 or 10 feet from the floor, above which the ball 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 381 

must strike. The server, as in tennis, takes his 
position in a service box with a racket similar to a 
lawn tennis racket except that it has a smaller head 
and a longer handle. 

Either two or four players may play racquets. 
A game consists of jBfteen "aces," or points. 

RED LINE 

In this game, also called Red Lion, the goal must 
be a straight line, such as the crack in a sidewalk or 
the edge of a road. The one who is ''it" runs after 
the rest as in tag, and when he has captured a pris- 
oner he brings him into the "red line," and the two 
start out again hand in hand and another is captured, 
then three together, and two pair, and so on until 
all are prisoners. The first prisoner is "it" for the 
next game. 

ROLEY BOLEY 

This game is also called Roll Ball and Nigger 
Baby, and is played by children all over the civil- 
ized world. A number of depressions are hollowed 
in the ground corresponding to the number of 
players and a hole is chosen by each one. A rubber 
ball is then rolled toward the holes, and if it lodges 
in one of them the boy who has claimed that hole 



382 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

must run in and pick up the ball while the rest 
scatter. He then attempts to hit one of the other 
players with the ball. If he succeeds a small stone 
called a "baby" is placed in the hole belonging to 
the boy struck. Otherwise the thrower is penalized 
with a ''baby." When any boy has five babies 
he must stand against the wall and be a free target 
for the rest to throw the ball at. 

ROQUE 

This game may be called scientific croquet. A 
roque mallet has a dogwood head 9J^ inches long, 
with heavy nickel ferrules. Roque balls are made 
of a special composition that is both resilient and 
practically unbreakable. 

A skilful roque player is able to make shots similar 
to billiard shots. The standard roque court is 
60 feet long, 30 feet wide, with corner pieces 6 feet 
long. The playing ground is of clay and should 
be as smooth as it is possible to make it. A very 
light top dressing of sand is used on the clay. The 
wickets, or "arches," are driven into blocks of wood 
to secure firmness and buried into the ground with 
the top of the arch 8 inches above the surface. 

The roque balls are 3)^ inches in diameter and 
the arches only 33^ wide, which gives an idea of 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 383 

the difficulty of playing this game. To be an expert 
requires an accurate eye and a great deal of practice. 
There is a National Roque ^Association, and an 
annual championship tournament is held to de- 
termine the champion. The home of roque is in 
the New England States. 

ROWING RECORD 

The best amateur intercollegiate record for the 
eight-oared race of four miles is 18 minutes 53| 
seconds, made by Cornell, July 2, 1901. 

RUBICON 

This game may be played with any number of 
players, and is especially adapted for a school or lawn 
game. Two players are chosen as pursuers and 
the rest are divided equally and stand two by two 
facing each other in two columns. The two pur- 
suers stand at the head of each column and face 
each other. When ready they say, "Cross the 
Rubicon," and at this signal the rear couple from 
each line must run forward and try to reach the 
rear of the other line. The pursuers must not 
look back, but as soon as the runners are abreast 
of them must try to tag them before they reach the 
place of safety. The captured runners become 



384 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

pursuers, and the one who was "it" takes his or 
her place at the rear of the other line. 

SACK RACING 

A form of sport where the contestants are fastened 
in sacks with the hands and feet confined and where 
they race for a goal by jumping or hopping along 
at the greatest possible speed under this handicap. 
A sack race should not be considered one of the 
scientific branches of sport, but is rather to afford 
amusement for the spectators. 

Scotland's burning 

This game is based upon the song of the same 
name. The players form a ring, with three judges 
in the centre. Each player with appropriate gestures 
in turn begins the song, 

*' Scotland's burning. Scotland's burning. 
Look out I Look out ! 
Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! 
Pour on water ! Pour on water /*' 

The whole party are soon singing, but each four 
are singing different words. The object of the 
judges is to detect some one in the circle either 
making gestures that are not appropriate to the 
words or to be singing out of order. The penalty 
IS to turn around and sing with the back to the 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 385 

circle. The three who are facing in last then be- 
come judges. 

SKIING 

This sport has recently received wide popularity 
in sections of the country where the winters make 
it possible. Skis — or, as they are sometimes spelled, 
skee, — are a pair of flat runners from five to 
ten feet long which are attached to the feet in such 
a way as to be easily cast off in case of accident. , By 
means of skis a ski-runner may either make rapid 
progress over level snow or may coast down sharp 
declivities and make jumps of great extent. 

Skis are usually made of ash and the standard 
lengths are from six to eight feet. They cost from 
five to seven dollars a pair. In skiing it is custom- 
ary to use a pair of steel-shod poles with leather 
wrist straps, but in ski-running or coasting the use 
of poles is very dangerous. 

SPANISH FLY 

In this game of leap frog various tricks are at- 
tempted by the leader, as in the game of "stump 
master." Each of the boys following is expected 
to do as the leader or to drop out and become 
"down" himself. "Torchlight" is to jump with 



386 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

one hand only, using the other to wave his cap as 
if it were a torch. In '*hats on deck" each jumper 
in turn is supposed to leave his cap on "down's" 
back. Naturally the last one over may have a 
large pile of hats to clear. If he disturbs any of 
them or knocks them off. he is "it." "Hats off" 
means for each jumper in turn to take his own hat 
without knocking off any of the others. In all 
games of leap frog it is considered proper for the 
jumper to direct "down" to give him the kind of a 
"back" he desires. Consequently he will say high 
or low back, depending upon whether he wishes 
"down" to stand almost upright or to bend close 
to the ground. 

SQUASH 

This game is similar to racquets, but is less violent 
or severe on a player. It is played in a court 31 feet 
6 inches wide. The front wall must be 16 feet high. 
The service line above which the ball must strike 
on the serve is 6 feet from the floor. Below this 
line and 2 feet from the floor is the "tell tale," above 
which the ball must strike in play. A squash 
racket is similar to a tennis racket, but slightly 
smaller. 

In squash, a game is "fifteen up." At the score 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 387 

of 13 a player may "set the score" back to 3 or 
5, after which the player first winning either 3 or 
5 points, or aces, as they are called, is the winner. 
The object of this is to endeavour to overcome the 
advantage that the server may have. 

In a regulation squash court the spectators' 
gallery is above the walls of the court, and the game 
is played in the pit below the gallery. 

STUMP MASTER 

In this game one of the players is chosen master. 
It is usually the one who first suggests the game by 
saying, "Let's play stump master." He then leads 
the line of players, going through various " stumps, " 
or, as we should call them now, "stunts," such as 
climbing fences and trees, turning somersaults, 
crawling through narrow places, or whatever will 
be difficult for the rest to copy. The game is capable 
of all sorts of variations. 

SUCKERS 

This can scarcely be called a game, but the use 
of the sucker is so familiar to most boys that a 
description of it is surely not out of place in this 
chapter. A piece of sole leather is used, three or 
four inches square. It is cut into a circle and the 



388 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

edges carefully pared thin. A hole is made in the 
centre and a piece of string or top twine is knotted 
and run through the hole. The sucker is then soaked 
in water until it is soft and pliable. The object 
of the sucker is to lift stones or bricks with 
it. This, too, is of especial interest in New England 
towns, where there are brick sidewalks. The 
sucker is pressed firmly on a brick by 
means of the foot, and it will be found to 
adhere to it with su;fficient force to lift it clear 
of the ground. 

TETHER BALL 

The same as tether tennis, which see. 

TETHER TENNIS 

This game has been developed out of lawn tennis. 
A wooden pole extending 10 feet above the surface 
is placed in a vertical position and firmly imbedded 
in the ground. The pole must be 7)^ inches in 
circumference at the ground and may taper to the 
top. Six feet above the ground a black band 2 
inches wide is painted around the pole. The court 
is a smooth piece of sod or clay similar to a tennis 
court, but a piece of ground 20 feet square is suflfi- 
cient. 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 389 

At the base of the pole a circle is described 
with a 3-foot radius. A line 20 feet long 
bisects this circle, and 6 feet from the pole on 
each side are two crosses, which are known as 
service crosses. 

An ordinary tennis ball is used which has been 
fitted with a tight-fitting linen cover. The ball is 
fastened to the pole by means of a piece of heavy 
braided line. Ordinary heavy fish line will do. The 
ball should hang l}/2 feet from the top of the pole 
or 23/2 f^^t from the ground. Regulation tennis 
rackets are used. 

The game consists in endeavouring to wind 
the ball and string around the pole above 
the black mark in a direction previously de- 
termined. The opponent meanwhile tries to 
prevent this and to wind the ball in the op- 
posite direction by striking it as one would volley 
in tennis. 

Each player must keep in his own court. The 
points are scored as *' fouls." Eleven games con- 
stitute a set. A game is won when the string is 
completely wound around the pole above the black 
mark. The penalty for a foul, such as stepping 
outside of one's court, allowing the string to wind 
around the handle of the racket or around the pole 



390 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

below the black mark, provides for a free hit by 

one's opponent. 

THREE-LEGGED RACING 

A race in which the contestants are paired oflf 
by being strapped together at the ankles and thighs. 
Remarkable speed can be obtained by practice under 
this handicap. There are definite rules to govern 
three-legged races, and official harness may be bought 
from sporting goods outfitters. As a race, however, it 
is like sack racing, to be classed among the sports de- 
signed to afford amusement rather than as a display 
of skill. 

TUB RACING 

These races are often held in shallow lakes. Each 
contestant sits in a wash tub, and by using his hands 
as paddles endeavours to paddle the course first. 
As a wash tub is not a particularly seaworthy craft, 
and spills are of frequent occurrence, it is well for 
the tub racers also to know how to swim. 

VOLLEY BALL 

This game is extremely simple and may be played 
by any number of players, provided that there is 
space and that the sides are evenly divided. The best 
dimensions for a volley ball court are 25 feet wide 
and 50 feet long, but any square space evenly 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 391 

divided into two courts will do. The game consists 
of twenty-one points. 

The ball is made of white leather and inflated 
with a rubber bladder. A net divides the two courts 
and is 7 feet high. The standard volley ball is 
27 inches in circumference and weighs between 9 
and 12 ounces. 

The whole object of the game is to pass the ball 
back and forth over the net without permitting it 
to touch the floor or to bound. In this way it 
somewhat resembles both tennis and hand ball. 

Volley ball is an excellent game for gymnasiums 
and has the decided advantage of permitting almost 
any number to play. 

WARNING 

The "warner" takes his position at a space called 
"home" and the rest of the players stand some dis- 
tance from him. He then clasps his hands and 
runs out, trying to tag an opponent with his clasped 
hands. This would be practically impossible except 
that the players endeavour to make him unclasp his 
hands by pulling at his arms and drawing temptingly 
near him. As soon as he has tagged a victim he 
runs for home as fast as possible. If he himself is 
tagged before he reaches home he is out, and the 



392 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

tagger becomes "warner." If both the warner and 
the one tagged reach home safely they clasp 
hands, and finally the line contains all the players 
but one, who has the honour of being warner for 
the next game. The game receives its name from 
the call, "Warning!" which the warner gives three 
times before leaving home. 

WASHINGTON 

In this game a player stands blindfolded and 
another player comes up and taps him. The one 
who is "it" then gives a penalty, such as "chmb a 
tree or run to the corner and back," and then 
tries to guess who it was that tapped him. The one 
tapped must ansWfer some question so that he may 
be recognized by his voice or laugh. If "it" is 
correct in his guess, the player must do as directed, 
but if his guess is wrong he must do it himself. 
The result of this game is that the blindfolded 
player will measure the severity of his "forfeits," 
or "penalties," to his certainty of guessing cor- 
rectly the name of the player. 

WATER POLO 

This game is played in a swimming pool. A white 
ball made of rubber fabric is used. The ball must 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 393 

be between 7 and 8 inches in diameter. The goals 
are spaces 4 feet long and 12 inches wide at each 
end of the tank and placed 18 inches above the water 
line. Six men on a side constitute a team. 

It is a game in which skill in swimming is abso- 
lutely essential. It is also a very rough game. 
The player endeavours to score goals by swimming 
with the ball, and his opponents are privileged to 
tackle him and to force him under water or in other 
ways to attempt to secure the ball from him. Mean- 
while the other players are blocking off opponents, 
and in general the game resembles a football game 
in its rudiments. 

WATER RACE 

In this game the contestants run a race carrying 

. a glass or tin cup full of water on top of the head, 

which must not be touched by the hands. The one 

finishing first with a minimum loss of water from his 

cup is the winner. 

WICKET POLO 

A game played by two teams of four players each. 
The ball used is a regulation polo ball. A wicket 
polo surface is 44 feet square, in which sticks or 
wickets are set up. The object of the game is to 



394 OUTDOOR SPORTS 

knock down the wickets of one's opponents by a 
batted ball and to prevent them from displacing 
our own. A crooked stick 4 feet in length and a 
little over an inch in diameter is used. Each player 
has a fixed position on the field or surface. 

WOLF AND SHEEP 

In this game "it" is the wolf. The sheep choose 
a shepherd to guard them. The wolf then secures 
a hiding place and the sheep and shepherd leave the 
fold and endeavour to locate him. When this is 
done the shepherd cries, "I spy a wolf!" and every 
one stands while he counts ten. Then the sheep 
and shepherd scatter for the fold, and if tagged before 
they reach it the first becomes wolf for the next 
game. 

WOOD TAG 

In this class are also "iron tag," "stone tag," 
and "tree tag." They are all simply the game of 
tag with the additional rule that when a player is 
in contact with iron, stone, trees, wood, and so on 
he is safe from being tagged by the one who is "it." 
The game of "squat tag" is similar, except that to 
be safe the one pursued must squat quickly on the 
ground before "it" catches him. In cross tag, 



ONE HUNDRED OUTDOOR GAMES 395 

*'it" must select a victim and continue to run after 
him until some one runs ahead and crosses his 
path, when "it," who may be breathless by this 
time, must abandon his victim for a fresh one, who 
may soon be relieved and so on until some one is 
tagged, or "it" is exhausted. 



THE COUNTRY UFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y. 



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